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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

;iV[:[(SiTY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBRARY, 

•JLOS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


SPELLING   EFFICIENCY 

IN   RELATION   TO  AGE,   GRADE   AND 

SEX,   AND  THE  QUESTION 

OF   TRANSFER 


jEbttralixittal  j^Bgrtyology  iiottograpl|g 

Spelling  Efficiency  in  Relation  to 

Age,  Grade  and  Sex,  and  the 

Question  of  Transfer 

An    Experimental    and    Critical    Study  of   the    Function    of 
Method    in    the    Teaching    of   Spelling 

BY 
J.    E.    WALLACE    WALLIN,    Ph.D. 

Director  of  the  Laboratory  of  Clinical   Psychology  in  The 
New  Jersey  State  Village  for  Epileptics 

Author  of  "Researches  on  the  Rhythm  of  Speech," 

"Optical   Illusions  of    Reversible 

Perspective,"  etc. 


BALTIMORE 

WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 

1911 


53s;i;; 


Copyright  1911 

BY 

WARWICK  &  YORK,   Inc. 


;   r- 


t 

ol  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

"^     Preface  ......  vii 

CHAPTER  I. 
;'     Introduction  .....  1 

CHAPTER  II. 
Spelling  Proficiency  as  Measured  by  School  and 

Grade  Totals       .....  26 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Relation  of  Spelling  EflSciency  to  Sex  and  Age  49 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Does    Spelling    Efficiency    Acquired    in    Column 

Drills  Transfer  to  Dictated  Compositions  ?      .  65 

)  CHAPTER  V. 

\     The    Spelling    Drill    in    Vogue    in    Cleveland    as 

i  Viewed  by  Principals  and   Teachers   in   the 

Elementary  Schools        ....  77 

CHAPTER  VT. 

Summary  of  Conclusions      ....  82 

Bibliography  .....  85 

Index  ......  87 


PREFACE. 

During  the  last  decade  the  interest  taken  in  the 
'* simplified  spelling"  movement  and  in  the  improve- 
ment of  teaching  spelling  has  been  widespread.  This 
is  not  surprising,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  spelling  is  a 
fundamental  social  tool.  No  person  can  be  consid- 
ered socially  efficient,  in  all  that  these  words  imply, 
unless  he  is  able  skillfully  to  manipulate  this  tool. 
There  are  few  elementary  school  subjects  in  which 
inefficiency  is  more  swiftly  detected  and  more  se- 
verely reprobated  in  later  life  than  in  spelling.  There 
are  few  elementary  branches  in  the  teaching  of  which 
the  schools  have  been  charged  with  more  uneconomi- 
cal use  of  time.  In  10  of  our  largest  cities,  7.22  per 
cent,  of  the  pupil's  time  in  the  elementary  schools 
is  devoted  to  the  study  of  spelling,  and  yet  the  com- 
plaint continues  to  be  made  that  the  elementary 
schools,  and  even  the  secondary  schools,  are  flooding 
the  country  with  an  army  of  inefficient  orthographers. 
It  has,  therefore,  become  the  custom  of  condemning 
the  schools  because  they  break  down  in  their  funda- 
mental mission — the  developing  of  skill  in  the  basal 
instruments  of  social  control. 

School  superintendents  and  teachers  have  felt  the 
justice  and  the  sting  of  these  hostile  criticisms,  and 
have  attempted  to  provide  a  remedy  by  increasing 
the  time  devoted  to  the  study  of  spelling  or  by  chang- 
ing the  methods  of  teaching.  The  results  have  not 
always  been  satisfactorv.    Faddists  have  arisen  and 


v'lll  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

proclaimed  the  discovery  or  invention  of  a  new 
method  which  would  revolutionize  the  teaching  of 
spelling.  The  chief  claim  for  most  of  these  methods 
has  been  that  they  would  provide  a  "royal  road  to 
orthography,"  easy  of  travel  for  the  footsore,  the 
weary  or  the  indolent  One  of  these  royal  roads,  the 
one  most  frequently  pointed  out,  leads  via  the  inci- 
dental method. 

The  writer  has  never  believed  that  with  an  orthog- 
raphy so  irrational  and  complicated  as  is  the  case 
with  English  spelling  orthographic  excellence  was 
to  be  found  along  some  royal  road.  He  has  been  of 
the  conviction  that  efficiency  in  the  use  of  a  mechani- 
cal subject-matter  such  as  spelling  was  to  be  found 
in  the  employment  of  a  drill  technique  fashioned  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  habit  formation.  Two 
years  ago  he  was  afforded  the  opportunity  of  observ- 
ing the  use  of  a  spelling  drill  in  the  public  schools  of 
Cleveland,  which  fulfilled  some  of  the  psychological 
requirements  of  a  good  drill  technique.  Since  the 
same  method  was  used  in  all  the  schools  of  the  city, 
the  entire  system  constituted,  in  effect,  an  experi- 
mental school  in  spelling,  and  afforded  favorable  con- 
ditions under  which  to  conduct  an  experimental  in- 
vestigation in  spelling.  The  following  pages  con- 
tain the  results  of  one  such  investigation.  It  was  the 
intention  to  follow  this  study  with  a  different  series 
of  tests,  but  circumstances  now  make  this  impossible. 

J.  E.  Wallace  Wallin. 

The  New  Jersey  State  Village  for  Epileptics 
at  Skillman,  April,  1911. 


CHAPTER  I. 
INTRODUCTION. 

Two  stock  methods  of  teaching  spelling  are  in  cur- 
rent use,  the  incidental  and  the  drill  methods.    When 
the  former  is  followed  no  provision  is  made  in  the 
daily  program  for  a  set  spelling  period,  either  for 
study  or  reciting,  nor  is  there  a  definite  assignment 
in  spelling  for  home  work.     The  study  of  spelling 
is  made  an  incident  to  the  study  of  the  other  branches 
of  the  daily  program— language,  grammar,  geogra- 
phy, history,  theme  writing,  etc.    This  method  is  of 
a  piece  with  the  method  of  correlation  of  the  Her- 
bartian  school,  and  is  theoretically  defended  on  the 
same  grounds.    It  is  often  referred  to  as  the  natural 
method,  because  the  child  is  taught  to  spell  in  con- 
nected discourse,  particularly  in  connected  written 
composition;  in  other  words,  in  the  habitual  situa- 
tions of  life.     These  situations  are  more  complex 
than  writing  arbitrarily  chosen  word  lists,  and  they 
are  the  only  situations  in  which  writing  ultimately 
Jias  any  value.  "In  the  out-of-school  situations  we 
are  scarcely  "ever  obliged  to  spell  except  when  we 
write  series  of  words,  or  sentences  (essays,  letters, 
reports,  addresses,  copy).    The  claim  is  set  up,  there- 
fore, that  to  produce  satisfactory  results  spelling 
should  be  studied  in  school  situations  which  con- 
tain identical  elements  with  life  situations,  and  not 


2  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

in  artificial  situations,  which  are  less  complex  and 
less  realistic.  To  study  spelling  in  this  way,  inci- 
dentally, is  to  render  the  process  dynamic  and  prac- 
tical. We  commonly  master  a  subject  when  we  find 
jDractical  use  for  it.  The  child  will  learn  the  funda- 
mental mathematical  processes  with  avidity  when 
he  realizes  that  they  supply  the  means  for  summing 
up  his  scores  in  his  games,  or  for  pursuing  success- 
fully the  constructive  activities  in  the  manual  train- 
ing shop,  or  for  conducting  the  financial  operations 
in  the  makebelieve  school  bank^  Memorizing  a  poem 
in  order  to  dramatize  it  renders  the  learning  prac- 
tical. To  test  knowledge  by  use  or  application  sup- 
plies then  a  vital  motive  for  its  acquisition:  knowl- 
edge getting  only  becomes  dynamic  when  impelled 
by  the  need  of  solving  a  problematical  situation 
which  is  practical  and  which  can  only  be  ^Ived  by 
the  acquisition  of  a  new  knowledge  content.  Now,  the 
incidental  spelling  method,  just  because  it  stresses 
the  application  phase  of  knowledge,  is  superior,  it 
is  contended,  to  the  spelling  drill  which,  since  it  is 
divorced  from  a  practical,  djTiamic  situation,  is 
formal  and  lifeless.  It  is  immaterial  to  the  "inci- 
dentalist"  whether  or  not  the  child  spells  words  cor- 
rectly in  lists  or  columns,  since  he  has  no  use  for 
column  or  list  spelling  in  the  world's  work,  just  so 
he  spells  them  correctly  in  sentences,  phrases  and 
paragraphs. 

The  first  objection  urged  against  the  drill,  there- 
fore, by  the  incidentalist  is  that  it  is  artificial,  di- 
vorced from  life  and  formal,  while  the  incidental 
method  is  dynamic  and  natural,  since  it  contains 
elements  that  are  identical  with  complex  practical 
life  situations. 


IN   RELATION    TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  3 

Because  the  spelling  drill  is  formal  it  is  contended 
that  it  degenerates  into  a  mechanical  grind  which 
either  becomes  a  refuge  for  the  naturally  slothful 
pupils — it  is  the  line  of  least  resistance  for  the  pupils 
who  are  too  indolent  to  think — or  becomes  a  monoto- 
nous grind  against  the  intolerable  monotony  of  which 
the  better  pupils  rebel,  and  which  engenders  in  these 
an  aversion  toward  school  life.  The  lazy  boy  likes 
the  drill,  because  it  is  an  easy  and  superficial  process, 
like  all  mechanical  activities — walking,  babbling, 
breathing,  etc.  Its  basis  is  instinctive — the  instinc- 
tive tendency  to  imitate.  The  nervous  system  is  so 
constituted  at  birth  that  it  tends  to  repeat  certain 
experiences.  The  child  is  born  with  the  tendency 
to  la-la  in  imitation  of  others  or  his  own  spontaneous 
or  accidental  utterances.  The  lazy  child  thus  natu- 
rally takes  to  iteration  and  reiteration,  in  prefer- 
ence to  thinking,  which  runs  counter  to  instinct  and 
requires  effort.  It  is  easier  to  "learn"  what  rules, 
demonstrations,  adjectives  and  interjections  are  by 
simply  repeating  and  memorizing  statements  and 
lists  of  words  than  by  striving  to  comprehend  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  for  the  intelligent  pupil  the 
drill  is  a  paralyzing  grind.  Based  on  sheer  repeti- 
tion, it  tends  to  hypnotize  and  stupefy  the  mind.  It 
benumbs  the  higher  intellectual  powers.  It  stresses 
the  memory  at  the  expense  of  judgment  and  com- 
prehension, and  at  best  produces  only,  as  in  China, 
a  race  of  mefhory  prodigies.  It  puts  a  premium 
upon  receptivity,  docility,  imitation,  re-learning, 
iteration,  and  discounts  creativeness,  inventiveness, 
independence,  spontaneity  and  originality.  It  makes 
for  mediocrity,  not  genius ;  and  produces  hide-bound 
traditionalists — our  educational  stokers  and  hewers 


4  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

of  wood.  Its  natural  result  is  the  pernicious  system 
of  cramming  now  rife  in  the  colleges  and  lower 
schools.  The  drill  has  thus  become  the  be-all  and 
end-all  of  the  educative  process.  The  mechanical, 
memory  grind  has  spread  insidiously  to  all  the 
branches,  and  has  become  unconsciously  the  fixed 
ideal  of  mental  acquisition.  Memorizing  and  learn- 
ing have  thus  become  synonymous. 

This  reverses  the  natural  order  of  learning.  Out 
of  the  school  we  strive  to  comprehend  first,  and  then 
memorize.  We  first  try  to  understand  the  directions 
given  to  us,  and  then  fix  them  in  the  memory.  But 
in  school  we  encourage  the  child  to  memorize  first 
and  understand  afterward.  We  argue  that  the  raw 
materials  in  the  form  of  memories  will  supply  a 
leaven  which  will  ferment  at  the  j^roper  time  into 
the  finished  products  of  judgment  and  understand- 
ing. But  frequently  the  pupils  have  so  much  to 
' '  learn ' '  that  they  never  have  time  to  think  or  under- 
stand. 

Another  objection  to  the  drill  method  of  acquisi- 
tion is  that  it  is  uneconomical.  In  the  drill  no 
pretense  is  made  of  supplying  the  mind  with  nour- 
ishment. The  child  is  obliged  to  spend  his  time 
cramming  over  old  materials  when  he  should  be 
acquiring  new  facts.  To  keep  on  repeating  old  com- 
binations deadens  the  mind  instead  of  nourishes 
it.  Instead  of  mental  growth  mental  stagnation 
follows.  At  the  same  time,  the  incidental  method 
is  a  valuable  measure  for  relieving  our  congested 
modern  curriculum.  A  specific  period  for  study- 
ing and  reciting  some  other  branch  becomes  avail- 
able, without  any  impairment  of  spelling  efficiency. 
So  far  as  there  is  any  need  for  fixing  the  spelling 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  O 

of  words,  this  can  be  secured  by  constant  attention 
to  spelling  in  the  other  branches  of  the  curriculum. 

Finally,  it  is  contended  that  tests  of  spelling  ef- 
.^ficiency  show  that  children  spell  as  well  in  schools 
where  the  spelling  drill  has  been  abolished  as  in 
schools  where  it  is  in  vogue — of  this  more  later. 

It  may  be  frankly  conceded  that  there  is  force 
in  many  of  these  objections.  There  is  not  enough 
genuine,  thought-provoking,  vital  work  in  many 
schools,  and  too  much  tolerance  of  glib,  meaning- 
less sj^mbols.  There  is  too  often  a  tendency  to  per- 
mit children  to  deal  with  empty  husks  and  shadows 
instead  of  realities,  and  to  be  satisfied  with  the  pre- 
tense and  illusion  of  knowledge.  There  is  too  little 
emphasis  on  understanding,  creativeness  and  origi- 
nality, too  little  attempt  to  motivate  learning  by 
relating  it  to  a  relevant  situation  representing  a 
present  need  in  the  child's  experience;  too  much 
unvarying  repetition  of  identical  forms  instead  of 
application  of  old  data  to  new  instances  and  situa- 
tions. But  while  granting  this,  it  may  also  be  af- 
firmed that  many  objections  to  the  drill  are  due 
to  abuses  or  misconceptions  of  the  drill.  The  defense 
of  the  drill,  however,  cannot  be  attempted  here  (13^), 
except  as  it  relates  to  teaching  spelling. 

The  drill  method,  as  distinguished  from  the  in- 
cidental, requires  special  periods  for  the  study  and 
reciting  of  spelling.  It  rests  its  contention  pri- 
\,  marily  upon  the  fact  that  spelling  is  merely  a  tool. 
It  has  no  value  in  itself,  i.  e.,  it  has  no  intrinsic  con- 
tent value,  as  has  a  knowledge  of  foods,  diseases, 
poisons,  skins,  woods,  metals,  etc.     If  there  were 


*  These  numbers  refer  to  the  references  cited  in  the  bibliography 
at  the  end  of  the  book. 


b  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

no  writing  or  reading  it  would  be  superfluous — a 
wholly  valueless  content,  having  neither  practical, 
cultural,  ornamental  nor  social  value.  But  it  does 
have  an  instrumental  value.  As  an  instrument  it 
is  an  indispensable  social  necessity — a  social  instru- 
ment of  control  for  thought  conveyance.  It  enables 
us  to  communicate  our  thoughts  in  writing  or  print- 
ing. Without  it  we  could  not  read.  Its  value,  there- 
fore ,  is  instrumental,  just  as  numbers  (figuring, 
computation)  are  valuable  as  tools  which  enable  us  to 
control  the  numerical  and  quantitative  aspects  of 
our  environment,  but  have  no  intrinsic  content  value. 
All  subjects  contain  these  instrumental  units  of  facts 
which  enable  us  to  perform  certain  activities,  or  to 
acquire  further  knowledge,  power  or  skill.  While 
they  are  of  great  value  as  means  for  controlling 
values,  they  may  possess  no  independent  values. 
To  illustrate:  the  hatchet,  saw,  plane  and  chisel 
serve  as  tools  by  means  of  which  we  can  extend  our 
control  over  physical  values  in  our  environment. 
By  controlling  these  we  build  houses  for  protec- 
tion, bridges  and  conveyances  for  transportation, 
chairs  and  couches  for  supports,  etc.  If  we  could 
accomplish  nothing  with  them  they  would  be  use- 
less. Spelling,  then,  is  a  tool  whereby  we  extend 
our  control  over  certain  social  values. 

Now,  the  value  of  a  tool  as  a  tool  is  directly  pro- 
portioned to  our  ability  to  use  it  skillfully.  The 
craftsman's  success  depends  upon  his  ability  to 
hold  and  manipulate  his  chisel,  hammer  and  saw 
with  facility,  accuracy,  dispatch  and  without  effort; 
the  piano  player's  success  depends  upon  the  skill- 
ful adjustment  of  certain  pressures  and  rates  of 
movement  of  fingers  and  arms,  or  in  a  word,  upon 


IX    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  7 

technique;  the  writer's  success,  on  the  instrumental 
side,  depends  on  his  ability  to  spell,  punctuate, 
space,  indent,  etc.,  correctly,  rapidly  and  readily. 
Furthermore,  the  facile,  accurate  and  economical 
(that  is,  the  skillful)  use  of  tools  means  automatic 
control  of  the  elements  of  form  and  execution — of 
posture  and  manipulation.  Unless  the  pianist  can 
automatically  manipulate  his  finger,  arm,  wrist, 
foot  and  eye  movements,  he  will  not  be  able  to  at- 
tend to  those  finer  nuances,  shadings  and  interpre- 
tations which  constitute  the  soul  of  artistic  rendi- 
tion. As  long  as  the  sculptor  must  divide  his  at- 
tention between  his  model  or  his  ideal,  and  his  chisel 
and  mallet,  he  will  bungle.  He  must  be  able  to  hold 
his  chisel  just  right  and  gage  the  blows  just  right, 
without  the  necessity  of  concentrating  his  attention 
upon  these  mechanical  elements.  In  artistic  crea- 
tion or  skilled  artisanship  the  instruments  of  execu- 
tion should  take  care  of  themselves. 

Similarly  we  have  certain  unvarying  mechanical 
subject-matter  of  the  intellectual  sort  which  should 
be  reduced  to  an  unconscious  automatic  basis — cer- 
tain fundamental  A,  B,  C's  of  knowledge,  certain 
basal  tool  facts  and  ideas,  such  as  spelling,  pro- 
nunciation, word  meanings,  the  fundamental  mathe- 
matical processes  and  basic  tables,  certain  funda- 
mental historical  dates,  rules  and  principles,  certain 
literary  gems  or  adages,  and  certain  muscle  co- 
ordinations closely  related  to  intellectual  func- 
tions. These  ideas  or  facts,  because  they  are  al- 
most universally  indispensable  tools  in  modern  life, 
should  be  so  firmly  knit  together  that  when  one 
term  of  the  association  occurs  the  other  will  func- 
tion automatically  at  once.     The  moment  the  word 


8  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

is  heard  or  thought  the  associated  visual  symbols 
should  come  to  consciousness  unhesitatingly.  The 
essayist  cannot  write  a  clear,  forcible,  logical  paper 
if  his  attention  must  be  diverted  frequently  by  the 
efforts  to  hold  and  move  the  pen  properly,  or  to 
spell  and  punctuate  correctly.  To  be  able  to  at- 
tend fully  to  the  content,  the  elements  of  form  must 
be  organized  into  habits,  so  that  they  will  function 
with  mechanical  precision  and  without  conscious 
supervision. 

The  contention  of  the  advocate  of  the  drill,  then, 
is  that  spelling  is  one  of  the  most  obvious  examples 
of  subject-mattjer  that  is  instrumental  in  value,  and 
invariable  and  mechanical  in  nature,  and  of  which 
every  socially  efficient  person  must  have  anautomatic 
command.  On  the  question  of  how  this  skillful  control 
is  to  be  secured,  he  considers  that  the  "incidentalist" 
is  fundamentally  in  error.  The  incidentalist  main- 
tains that  attention  should  be  focused  upon  the 
content  of  knowledge  (the  facts  and  relations  in 
geography,  history,  language,  etc.),.  for  the  form 
(spelling)  will  take  care  of  itself:  the  visual  form 
of  the  written  words  will  be  incidentally  and  simul- 
taneously absorbed  as  the  contents  are  conned.  At- 
tention to  the  form  should  only  be  exceptional  or 
incidental. 

This  position,  the  upholder  of  the  drill  insists, 
rests  upon  a  misconception  of  the  process  of  habit 
formation.  The  same  factors  which  condition  the 
formation  of  habits  must  condition  the  drill  proc- 
ess, for  the  central  element  and  aim  in  both  are  the 
same,  viz.,  practice  or  repetition,  and  the  produc- 
tion of  a  state  of  relative  automatism.  The  law 
according   to   which   habits    are   formed    embraces 


IN    RELATION    TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  9 

three  fundamental  factors :  initial  focalization  of 
attention,  attentive  repetition  and  a  final  state  of 
automatic  behavior.  To  teach  a  child  to  write  I 
must  first  of  all  get  his  attention  focused  upon  the 
writing  processes.  A  voluntary  action  can  be  per- 
formed only  in  a  state  of  consciousness.  But  that 
which  does  not  get  into  attention  does  not  get  into 
consciousness  —  except  possib'ly  the  unconscious 
cerebal  modifications  which  accompany  the  gradual 
maturing  of  the  nervous  organism,  which  affect  the 
total  organization  of  the  mind,  and  certain  sub- 
conscious influences  the  existence  of  which  is  still 
hypothetical. 

The  first  thing  that  the  teacher  should  do  then 
is  to  get  the  child  to  concentrate  on  the  processes 
to  be  automatized.  This  she  does  by  verbal  direc- 
tions, by  displaying  the  form  or  letter  which  is  to 
be  imitated,  by  reproducing  the  form  before  the 
ichild's  eyes,  so  that  he  obtains  a  visual-form  image 
and  a  visual-motor  image,  by  inducing  the  child  to 
imitate  the  observed  movements,  so  that  he  gets 
^tactual-motor  series  of  images  of  his  own-  move- 
mSnts,  ylc:  By  such  means  as  these  we  get  the  child 
to  attend  well  at  the  very  outset  to  the  task  set  be- 
fore him.  In  too  many  drills  this  fundamental  ele- 
ment, the  initial  focalization  of  attention,  is  en- 
tirely neglected.  The  child  gets  no  clear  idea  of 
what  he  must  do ;  he  has  no  definite  ideal  or  aim  to 
guide  and  vitalize  his  efforts.  Sometimes  the  aims 
presented  are  so  numerous  that  initial  focalization 
is  out  of  the  question:  the  instructions  cover  too 
many  points ;  attention  at  the  outset  is  bewildered 
instead  of  focalized.  Attention  can  be  focalized  on 
a  new  process  only  when  the  directions  are  clear, 
definite  and  specific. 


10  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

After  the  initial  focalization  there  must  be  at- 
tentive repetition.  After  the  child  has  a  definite 
image  of  his  form  and  the  writing  movements,  he 
must  keep  on  repeating  it.  But  merely  mechanical 
or  rote  repetition  will  prove  largely  futile.  If  his 
attention  is  upon  the  passing  throngs  outside  of 
the  window  his  repetitions  will  avail  him  little.  In- 
attentive repetitions  tend  to  deteriorate;  they  pro- 
duce copies  which  grow  increasingly  inferior  to  the 
model.  The  writing  at  the  bottom  of  the  copy-book 
is  usually  poorer  than  at  the  top.  The  attention  to 
the  model  has  grown  poorer.  In  the  average  drill 
the  child  repeats  in  a  state  of  relative  inattention; 
a  part  of  his  attention  is  on  something  else — the 
teacher,  his  neighbors,  his  headache,  hunger,  plays 
during  recess,  etc.  Of  course  the  results  are  dis- 
appointing, and  the  drill  is  condemned.  The  trouble 
is  that  the  second  fundamental  condition  of  the  drill 
has  not  been  supplied.  The  vital  practical  solution 
of  the  difficulty  consists,  then,  not  in  the  elimination 
of  the  drill,  but  in  devising  means  of  keeping  the 
child's  attention  riveted  on  his  reiterated  tasks. 

Finally,  in  the  genuine  drill,  the  attentive  repeti- 
tions must  be  continued  until  a  stage  of  automatic 
control  has  been  reached  or  at  least  closely  ap- 
proximated. If  the  child  grows  weary  and  gives  up 
before  this  stage  is  reached,  his  efforts  will  count 
for  little.  Unless  the  neurone  modifications  have 
been  thoroughly  solidified,  the  results  will  not  per- 
sist, and  the  practice  effects  will  quickly  vanish. 
Our  hereditary  habits,  or  instincts,  which  have  been 
organized  by  innumerable  repetitions  during  the  ages 
do  not  thus  vanish;  they  rest  upon  a  stable  neural 
substrate.  What  has  been  found  essential  in  the 
organization  of  racial  habits  can  probably  not  be 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  11 

dispensed  with  in  the  formation  of  individual  hab- 
its. Neural  pathways  result  only  from  repeated  (or 
violent)  neural  currents.  Even  at  its  best,  indi- 
vidual repetition  will  not  produce  the  stability  that 
has  been  produced  by  racial  repetition.  But  the 
great  artists  know  of  no  substitutes.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  average  drill  stops  short  of  the  final 
stage,  the  stage  of  mechanization.  The  child  has 
been  assigned  so  many  words  to  learn  in  a  spelling 
lesson  that  effective  concentration  has  been  impos- 
sible; and  his  desire  for  constant  change  and  va- 
riety has  been  so  fully  gratified  that  there  has  not 
been  even  a  semblance  of  attentive  repetition.  Un- 
der such  conditions  the  results  could  not  have  been 
otherwise  than  disappointing,  for  no  drill  technique 
has  been  followed. 

What,  now,  briefly,  is  the  application  of  the  psy- 
chology of  habit-formation  to  the  question  of  the 
incidental  method!  If  the  child  absorbs  the  con- 
tent when  he  is  reading  it  is  because  he  attends  to 
it;  if  he  gets  the  form  it  is  because  it  has  been  at- 
tended to;  if  he  gets  both  the  content  and  the  form 
in  the  same  reading  it  is  because  attention  has  see- 
sawed between  the  two.  Assimilation  in  both  cases 
is  the  result  of  focalization.  But  a  rapid  alternation 
or  splitting  up  of  attention,  such  as  is  required  in  the 
incidental  method,  is  uneconomical;  something  will 
be  lost  on  the  side  of  content  and  something  on  the 
side  of  the  form — the  less  familiar  the  form  and 
content  are  the  greater  the  loss.  If  the  content  is 
unfamiliar  the  loss  will  bear  most  heavily  on  the 
form;  if  the  form  is  unfamiliar  the  content  is  liable 
to  suffer  most.  Ordinarily  the  form  will  suffer 
most,  because  usually  when  we  read  we  are  pri- 


12  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

marily  interested  in  a  certain  content  and  care  noth- 
ing about  the  form.  Moreover,  the  ideal  mastery 
of  form  and  content  differs  radically  in  aim.  The 
perfect  mastery  of  the  content  is  realized  when  a 
state  of  completely  conscious  appreciation  or  com- 
prehension is  attained,  while  the  perfect  mastery 
of  the  form  culminates  in  a  state  of  unconscious 
mechanical  control.  But,  as  has  been  shown,  this 
state  of  automatic  behaviour  presupposes  earlier 
states  of  focalized  initial  attention  and  a  series  of 
attentive  repetitions.  On  theoretical  grounds,  if  on 
no  others  (the  experimental  evidence  will  be  pre- 
sented later),  the  form,  because  its  control  makes 
such  claims  upon  consciousness,  should  be  mastered 
in  a  separate  exercise. 

The  disciple  of  the  drill,  however,  does  not  by 
any  means  take  the  ground  that  the  incidental 
teaching  of  spelling  should  be  wholly  abolished. 
He  believes  that  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
should  be  tested  not  only  by  its  verbal  reproduc- 
tion, but  by  its  application  or  use  in  all  the  practi- 
cal situations  afforded  in  the  school  community,  so 
that  inevitably  the  drill  method  involves  the  inci- 
dental in  the  stage  of  application.  But  he  does 
maintain  that  the  stock  method  for  the  initial  ac- 
quisition of  the  spelling  forms  must  be  the  drill 
method,  and  that  the  incidental  method  must  be  used 
only  incidentally. 

Aside  from  this  objection,  when  the  use  of  the 
incidental  method  consists  only,  as  is  often  the  case, 
in  the  correction  of  misspellings  in  the  regular  writ- 
ten work  of  the  school,  the  advocate  of  the  drill 
again  points  to  a  conflict  of  the  method  with  the 


IN    RELATION    TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  13 

economics  of  habit  formation.  In  forming  habits 
one  should  be  careful  to  make  the  first  coordina- 
tions correctly.  One  must  avoid  suggesting  wrong 
patterns.  Only  the  correct  models  should  be  ex- 
hibited. The  child  should  not  be  allowed  to  make 
initial  mistakes,  for  then  there  will  be  no  errors  to 
correct.  It  is  harder  to  form  correct  reactions 
after  wrong  ones  have  been  formed  or  started.  By 
avoiding  the  formation  of  wrong  habits,  the  energy 
saved  in  rooting  out  mistakes  can  be  used  for  build- 
ing up  the  right  coordinations.  In  the  drill  method 
one  does  not  wait  to  teach  the  spelling  of  words 
until  the  child  has  learned  to  spell  them  incor- 
rectly. But  this  is  exactly  what  the  incidental 
method,  as  often  employed,  does.  The  child's  at- 
tention is  focalized  upon  the  incorrect  orthography, 
and  this  tends  to  suggest  the  wrong  form  rather 
than  the  right — by  the  known  principle  of  contrary 
suggestion.  It  is  better  that  the  child  should  never 
know  the  incorrect  form,  so  that  there  will  be  no 
chance  for  wrong  suggestions  to  arise.  Better 
than  to  permit  a  wrong  habit  to  form  and  then  at- 
tempt to  break  it,  is  to  so  arrange  the  conditions 
that  the  formation  of  the  right  habits  will  be  easier 
than  the  formation  of  the  wrong  ones.  Instruction 
should  be  essentially  a  process  of  teaching,  instead 
of  unteacliing. 

It  is  in  the  last  objection,  which  was  mentioned 
above,  that  the  incidentalist  offers  his  chief  indict- 
ment of  the  spelling  drill  and  strikes  at  its  very 
vitals.  Even  if  we  concede,  he  insists,  that  the  drill 
may  develop  spelling  efficiency,  this  efficiency  is  so 
highly  specialized  that  the  proficiency  which  has 
been  developed  in  the  formal  spelling  exercises  at- 
taches only  to  the  spelling  of  columns  or  lists  of 


14  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

words  and  is  not  realized  in  the  writing  of  com- 
positions or  themes.  The  fact  that  the  child  spells 
well  in  the  spelling  lesson  is  no  guarantee  that  he 
will  spell  well  in  his  letters  or  essays.  Spelling 
efficiency  does  not  generalize;  spelling  word  lists 
and  spelling  in  connected  discourse  are  two  differ- 
ent things.  Now  the  range  of  spelling  efficiency 
developed  by  the  drill  method  is  so  narrow — 
columns  or  lists  of  words — that  it  is  not  very 
useful  for  practical  purposes.  Hence  we  find  ihe 
"spelling  grind"  denounced  as  futile  (Rice:  10^), 
because  there  is  no  discoverable  relation  between 
the  spelling  drill  and  the  result  (Cornman:  6).  The 
spelling  result  is  ^'a  constant  quantity  altogether 
independent  of  the  method  of  teaching,"  a  "func- 
tion of  the  general  pedagogical  health  of  the  class," 
(Cornman),  most  largely  dependent  upon  the  per- 
sonality of  the  teacher  and  the  maturity  of  the 
pupil  (Rice,  Cornman),  his  "degree  of  mental  de- 
velopment as  measured  by  the  school  grade."  The 
minimum  degree  of  efficiency  that  may  be  demanded 
in  the  written  exercises  of  the  primary  pupils  is 
from  94-97%,  and  in  the  grammar  grades  from  97- 
99.5%,  and  this  can  be  obtained  without  the  drill; 
hence  we  are  not  justified  in  attempting  by  a  drill 
technique  to  raise  the  average:  sensori-motor  hab- 
its cannot  be  further  organized  or  strengthened 
after  they  have  attained  so  high  a  degree  of  effi- 
ciency (Cornman).    It  matters  not  that  the  average 


*  Rice  equivocates  somewliat.  He  heads  his  article  "Tiie  Futility 
of  the  Spelling  Grind,"  and  ostensibly  sets  out  to  demonstrate  its 
futility.  But  he  shows  by  his  own  investigation  that  the  children 
who  h-ad  been  drilled  made  the  best  spellers,  and  he  advocates  out 
and  out  the  setting  aside  of  not  more  than  fifteen  minutes  daily  for 
the  special  study  of  spelling. 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  15 

spelling  efficiency  in  many  schools  as  determined 
by  tests  ranges  from  only  50%  up.  For  33,000 
pupils  tested  the  results  varied  from  53.5  to  84.2% 
in  the  case  of  one  test  and  one  group  of  children,  and 
from  64.2  to  84.4%  in  the  case  of  another.  In  one 
group  of  fifteen  schools  the  building  averages  ranged 
from  73.3  to  77.9% ;  for  a  group  of  twelve  cities 
the  range  was  70.6  to  74.8%  (Eice).  For  thirteen 
schools  in  Philadelphia  the  building  average  was 
70%  (Coniman).  Both  of  these  writers  seem  agreed 
— that  is  the  general  tenor  of  the  articles — that  the 
following  factors  have  no  material  influence,  or  at 
most  a  very  slight  influence,  upon  spelling  effi- 
ciency: heredity,  occupation  of  parents  (referring 
specifically  to  unskilled  workers),  the  extension  of 
time  beyond  a  certain  minimum,  frequency  of  re- 
views, writing  sentences,  doing  much  reading,  the 
phonic  method  (the  foregoing  are  mentioned  espe- 
cially by  Rice),  extensive  oral  drills;  exclusively 
written  exercises,  syllabification,  or  the  photo- 
graphic or  flash  exposure  of  the  words.  The 
method  or  device  is  thus  merely  an  incident  in 
learning  to  spell. 

These  conclusions  fly  directly  in  the  face  of  the 
results  of  tests  by  other  investigators.  Meumann 
concludes  from  several  investigations  that  spelling 
methods  do  vary  in  effectiveness.  He  found  that 
the  best  method  was  to  "combine  the  sight  of  the 
new  word  with  the  analytical  copying  of  it,  plus  at 
least  a  whispered  pronunciation  of  its  constituent 
elements."  Abbott  (1)  found  in  an  investigation 
on  four  trained  subjects  that  when  the  words 
were  spelled  out  to  them  they  invariably  substi- 
tuted visual  imagery,  that  the  letters  heard  were 


16  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

never  recalled  in  the  form  of  auditory  imagery, 
that  the  vocalization  of  letters  hindered,  but  the  vo- 
calization of  syllables  aided  learning  to  spell  when 
words  were  presented  visually,  and  that  whatever 
aids  visual  presentation  aids  the  learning.  The  lat- 
ter conclusion  is  borne  out  by  Kratz's  results  (9). 
He  tested  the  ability  of  743  pupils  to  spell  words, 
using  a  modification  of  Ebbinghaus'  tests,  after 
they  had  been  clearly  and  slowly  pronounced,  dis- 
played to  the  eye  in  large  type,  and  looked  at  and 
named  in  concert.  The  per  cents,  were  44.8%  for 
the  auditory  series,  66.2%  for  the  visual,  and  73.7% 
for  the  auditory-visual — a  demonstrated  difference 
as  dependent  upon  method  of  28.9%.  It  was  fur- 
ther ascertained,  by  a  test  of  the  ability  to  observe, 
that  the  best  spellers  averaged  more  objects  ob- 
served than  the  poor  ones  (these  tests  were  not 
conducted  with  high  regard  for  nicety  of  precis- 
ion). The  writer  concludes  that  in  learning  to  spell 
the  main  appeal  must  be  to  the  eyes.  Bean  refers 
to  the  poor  spelling  by  the  pupils  of  the  School  of 
Education  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  attrib- 
utes it  to  the  fact  that  spelling  is  (or  was)  ''taught 
there  only  by  criticism  of  written  work  and  never 
by  drill."  He  refers  to  a  mentally  retarded  boy, 
sixteen  years  old,  doing  sixth  year  work  and  very 
poor  in  spelling,  who  "learned  spelling  with  sur- 
prising ease"  when  taught  "in  the  usual  way." 
He  prepared  four  lessons  a  day  from  an  eighth 
grade  spelling  book,  and  frequently  did  not  miss 
a  word  during  five  successive  days  (3). 

The  effectiveness  of  added  time  and  special  drill 
in  spelling  has  been  demonstrated  in  various  school 
systems   where  the  conditions  have  allowed  of  a 


IN   BELATION   TO   AGE^   GRADE   AND   SEX.  17 

degree  of  control  that  has  insured  uniformity  of 
method.  In  the  high  school  affiliated  with  the  School 
of  Education  of  Missouri  State  University  the  pu- 
pils who  averaged  one  misspelled  word  per  page  in 
their  written  work  in  the  branches  pursued  were 
obliged  to  attend  a  special  class  until  they  reached 
a  given  standard  in  their  composition  work  (Char- 
ters (5).  Here  they  studied:  (1)  certain  spelling 
rules,  (2)  certain  rules  for  memorizing,  and  (3)  cer- 
tain methods  for  detecting  and  correcting  mistakes 
in  spelling.  The  result  was  that  only  two  of  the 
seventy  pupils  of  last  year  now  remain  in  the  class. 
There  has  been  a  marked  improvement  in  spelling. 
It  has  made  focal  the  necessity  of  a  good  standard 
in  spelling,  cured  negligence  and  aided  the  incor- 
rigibly poor  speller. 

In  Milwaukee  a  drill  method  has  been  in  use — two 
new  words  are  learned  each  day  and  repeated  during 
successive  weeks — with  the  result  that  the  spelling 
has  nearly  attained  perfection  (11). 

Perhaps  nowhere  has  a  consistent  drill  method 
been  in  such  uniform  use  as  in  Cleveland  during  the 
last  few  years ;  in  fact,  the  whole  school  system  may 
be  regarded  in  the  light  of  an  experimental  school  in 
respect  to  spelling. 

The  drill  technique  observed  has  conformed  to  the 
law  of  habit  formation,  as  described  above  (see  also 
8  and  13).  First,  the  initial  daily  focalization  of  at- 
tention is  secured  by  limiting  the  number  of  new 
words  assigned  to  two  per  day  (called  dominant 
words).  Instead  of  dispersing  the  child's  attention 
over  twenty  or  more  words,  it  is  intensively  focalized 
upon  two  words.  The  initial  focalization  is  secured 
in  other  ways  than  merely  limiting  the  number  of 
words.     The   words   are  printed   conspicuously  in 


18  SPELLING   EFFICIENCT. 

large  type  at  the  head  of  each  day's  lesson,  and  thus 
attract  attention  through  the  operation  of  the  laws 
of  primary  passive  attention.  The  child  is  also  re- 
quired to  construct  sentences  of  his  own  in  which  the 
words  are  used.  This  not  only  redirects  attention  to 
the  words,  but  develops  skill  in  the  use  of  the  words 
in  composition.  It  supplies  a  means  of  practically 
applying  the  words.  When  the  meaning  of  a  word  is 
obscure,  the  pupil  must  look  it  up  in  the  dictionary ; 
and  this  also  converges  attention  upon  the  word.  Ten 
new  words  thus  receive  concentrated  attack  in  one 
week.  The  conditions  of  initial  focalization  have 
been  realized. 

Second,  attentive  repetition  is  secured,  partly  by 
what  has  already  been  said,  and  partly  by  a  scheme 
of  systematic  drills  and  reviews.  The  ten  words 
focalized  during  the  week  recur  as  subordinate  words 
during  the  next  two  weeks.  They  are  also  made  the 
subject  of  special  review  once  a  week.  At  the  end  of 
every  eighth  week  oral  and  written  interschool  con- 
tests between  the  same  grades  in  all  the  schools  of 
the  system  are  conducted,  based  upon  the  eighty 
words  focalized  and  reviewed  during  this  period. 
Similar  annual  contests  are  also  held,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  words  are  again  reviewed  as  subor- 
dinates. Each  focalized  word  is  reviewed,  therefore, 
four  times  (or  five,  including  the  initial  assignment) 
in  two  years.  Recourse  is  had  to  the  interschool  con- 
tests in  order  to  secure  attentive  repetitions  and  to 
vitalize  the  process.  Notivation  is  thus  secured  by 
appealing  to  the  child's  instincts  of  emulation,  riv- 
alry and  pride  in  the  prestige  of  his  class  and  school. 

Third,  this  method  of  thoroughgoing  initial  focal- 
ization and  attentive  repetition  should  have  yielded 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  19 

a  high  degree  of  automatic  mastery  of  the  spelling  of 
a  considerable  number  of  words.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  spelling  efficiency  engendered  hy  this  spell- 
ing technique  in  the  Cleveland  schools  is  quite  re- 
markable, as  shown  by  the  following  figures. 

In  the  first  interschool  spelling  contest  the  pupils 
of  the  eighth  grade  averaged  1.5  words  per  pupil 
incorrectly  spelled  in  a  total  of  120  words.  In  the 
corresponding  test  one  year  later,  1907,  or  one  year 
after  the  introduction  of  the  drill  described  above, 
the  average  number  of  errors  per  child  was  only  .483 
of  a  word.  In  1908  a  test,  embracing  50  words,  given 
by  a  specially  appointed  educational  commission  in 
1905  (consisting  of  Presidents  Howe  and  Tliwing, 
and  Professor  Avery),  was  repeated  with  all  the 
pupils  of  the  city  in  the  same  grade.  In  the  1908  test 
the  average  number  of  misspelled  words  per  child 
was  three,  as  against  thirteen  in  1905.  The  spelling 
efficiency  had  increased  from  74  to  947f.  Sim- 
ilarly, a  test  given  in  Chicago  was  repeated  in  72 
eighth  grades,  giving  an  average  spelling  efficiency 
of  84.17%.  This  figure  attains  its  significance 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  84%  was  the  record  of 
the  best  individual  eighth  grade  in  Chicago,  while  a 
slightly  higher  percentage  was  the  average  of  the  72 
in  Cleveland.  Better  known  is  the  1908  N.  E.  A. 
Spelling  Contest,  in  which  Cleveland  scored  the  high- 
est success.  The  contest  was  based  upon  the  Lord- 
Baylor-Brown-Stone  list  of  words.  In  this  Cleveland 
totaled  40  errors,  while  Pittsburg  totaled  47,  New 
Orleans  QQ,  and  Erie  85.  The  following  year  a  spell- 
ing test  given  in  Cleveland  in  1858  was  repeated, 
with  the  result  that  the  average  was  one  misspelled 
word  less  per  pupil  than  in  1858.    In  one  of  the  early 


20  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

tests  of  1909,  given  to  the  pupils  of  the  seventh  grade 
of  two  schools,  composed  largely  of  Jewish  children, 
out  of  12,800  possible  mistakes  only  "one  boy  in  each 
school  made  one  error."  In  the  annual  contest  of 
May,  1909,  the  spelling  proficiency  in  the  lifth  grade 
reached  95% ;  in  the  sixth  grade,  96% ;  in  the  sev- 
enth, 97.16%,  and  in  the  eighth,  97.2,  or  a  general 
average  for  these  grades  of  96.34%. 

In  the  eighth-week  contest  in  November,  1909, 
21,290  of  35,098  pupils  in  the  various  grades  gave 
perfect  returns  in  both  the  oral  and  written  contests, 
and  the  average  was  1.235  incorrectly  spelled  words 
for  each  pupil  in  both  tests. 

In  the  corresponding  contests  in  January,  1910, 
17,127  of  the  33,364  jDupils  spelled  all  the  words  cor- 
rectly, and  the  average  number  of  errors  per  pupil 
was  1.698. 

In  the  oral  contests  of  last  March,  in  which  33,928 
pupils  in  the  third  to  eighth  grades,  inclusive,  par- 
took, the  number  of  misspellings  was  9,971.  The 
total  number  of  possible  chances  to  misspell  was 
6,785,600,  or,  since  each  pupil  spelled  only  five  words, 
169,640.  This  gives  an  average  efficiency  of  about  94 
per  cent.,  which  is  quite  satisfactory  in  view  of  the 
conditions :  each  pupil  received  only  five  chances  to 
spell  from  a  list  of  200  words.  Perfect  grades  were 
obtained  by  5,377  pupils.  In  the  written  test,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  which  was  included  homonyms  on 
which  there  had  been  no  systematic  instruction  or 
drill,  the  efficiency  dropped  to  89.6  per  cent. 

In  the  annual  contest  of  May  31,  1910,  based  on 
320  words,  the  average  standing  for  all  the  pupils 
—over  33,000— was  94.6%  in  the  oral  test,  and  96.1 
in  the  written. 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  21 

Here  we  have  a  degree  of  efficiency  produced  by 
the  application  of  certain  fundamental  elements  of 
the  drill  that  is  impressive.  Certain  facts  will  add 
emphasis  to  this  impressiveness.  The  spelling  con- 
tests in  Cleveland  are  conducted  under  rather  rig- 
orous conditions:  i's  not  dotted  and  capitals  not 
properly  used  count  as  mistakes;  the  written  work 
must  be  corrected  by  two  teachers ;  a  second  teacher 
must  keep  the  record  in  the  oral  contests.  Further- 
more, the  spelling  drills  in  the  elementary  schools  of 
Cleveland  consume  only  5.96%  of  the  available 
time,  as  compared  with  7.22%,  the  average  for 
a  number  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  country.  More- 
over, these  results  present  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
results  of  Rice's  column  and  sentence  tests  for  twen- 
ty-one cities  of  the  country.^  Here  the  spelling 
efficiency,  as  already  mentioned,  ranged  from  53.5 
per  cent.,  in  the  fourth  grade,  to  84.2%,  in  the 
eighth  grade.  In  another  test  carried  out  by  Rice 
himself  the  averages  for  entire  buildings  ranged 
from  73.3  to  77.9%.  Only  in  the  case  of  fifteen 
schools  for  the  eighth  grade  did  the  results  approxi- 
mate to  any  degree  perfect  scores.  This  was  in  the 
case  of  a  composition  test  which  did  not  seem  to  be 
sufficiently  difficult  to  set  any  problem  to  pupils  of 
their  attainments.  The  words  used  in  the  Cleveland 
tests  diifer  for  the  various  grades,  and  many  of  them 
are  difficult  words.  In  fact,  the  lists  are  compiled 
from  words  submitted  by  the  teachers  as  most  fre- 
quently misspelled. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  Bailey-Manly 
(2)  system  of  teaching  spelling,  which  the  authors 
assert  has  proved  very  elTective.    Some  of  the  promi- 

'  These  tests,  repeated  in  Philadelphia,  gave  similar  results. 


22  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

nent  features  of  their  spellers  are :  Learning  a  mini- 
mum number  of  new  words  each  day  (three  in  the 
second  grade) ;  regular  reviews  of  difficult  words ;  the 
grading  of  the  words;  the  elimination  of  difficult, 
infrequently  used  words;  distinct  pronunciation  be- 
fore spelling;  sentence  and  dictation  writing;  appeal- 
ing to  the  various  types  of  memory  (auditory,  visual 
and  motor  presentations);  phonic  and  other  drills; 
calling  attention  to  correct  forms  and  preventing 
guessing  or  the  writing  of  the  incorrect  forms. 

Obviously  the  above  facts  do  not  warrant  the 
assertion  that  method  in  teaching  spelling  is  merely 
an  incidental  detail,  nor  do  they  lend  support  to  the 
contention  that  modern  pedagogy  demands  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  incidental  for  the  drill  method.  As 
will  be  seen  later  from  our  experimental  results,  it 
is  not  a  question  of  drill  or  no  drill,  but  a  question  of 
evolving  and  economically  using  a  psychologically 
justifiable  and  pedagogically  efficient  drill  technique, 
instead  of  using  slipshod  and  happy-go-lucky  drills. 
Given  such  a  technique,  the  vital  question  at  issue 
will  be  the  question  of  transfer. 

The  ** spelling  grind,"  no  matter  how  good  the 
technique  is,  will  still  be  "futile"  if  the  proficiency 
engendered  does  not  transfer  to  connected  written 
composition.  The  incidentalist  affirms  that  it  does 
not,  as  shown  by  actual  schoolroom  tests.  Since  it  is 
alleged  that  these  do  not  show  transfer,  the  question 
resolves  itself  into  determining  the  reliability  or 
validity  of  the  tests.  It  can  be  shown,  I  believe,  that 
the  relevancy  of  these — or  at  least  those  with  which 
I  am  familiar — may  be  questioned,  because  if  we 
would  determine  experimentally  the  degree  of  trans- 
ferability of  spelling  efficiency  engendered  by  the 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  23 

drill  to  connected  writing  we  must  at  least  make  sure 
that  the  product  we  are  testing  is  the  result  of  a  gen- 
uine drill  technique.  We  must  have  objective  control 
of  the  conditions.  This  is  not  possible  when  random 
tests  are  made  in  cities  here  and  there  throughout 
the  country,  where  all  sorts  of  methods  have  been  in 
use.  And  when  our  tests  are  confined  to  the  schools 
of  one  city  we  have  no  right  to  assume  that  a  drill  is 
in  vogue  simply  because  special  periods  are  provided 
in  the  program  for  spelling.  That  fact  guarantees 
at  most  only  one  thing:  that  a  certain  amount  of 
time  is  given  to  the  special  study  of  spelling.  It  sig- 
nifies nothing  regarding  the  method,  or  precise  tech- 
nique, employed.  Moreover,  the  tests  made  have 
been  unfair  in  yet  another  respect:  the  ranking  of 
the  papers  has  been  determined  by  all  the  words  mis- 
spelled, regardless  of  whether  they  have  been  sub- 
jected to  special  study  or  drill.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  experimentally  determine  transfer  of  spell- 
ing ability  on  the  basis  of  a  list  of  test  words  which 
are  the  same  in  the  ''column"  and  ''composition" 
tests  and  which  were  acquired  in  a  column  drill.  And 
yet  this  condition  is  fundamental,  particularly  in 
view  of  the  extreme  conclusions  which  have  been 
drawn  from  the  tests  thus  far  made,  and  particularly 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  question  of  transfer  does 
not  mean — and  only  the  more  extreme  adherents  of 
the  drill  would  so  maintain — that,  in  a  language 
whose  orthography  is  so  chaotic  and  irrational,  as  is 
the  case  with  English — the  efficiency  engendered  by 
drills  on  a  given  list  of  words  will  spread  to  any 
other  words  whatsoever  in  the  language,  no  matter 
how  different  in  orthography,  etymology,  or  in  re- 
spect to  the  rules  which  govern  their  structure.    He 


24  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

does  not  urge  universal  transferahility  in  justifica- 
tion of  the  drill,  save  at  most  in  the  matter  of  method 
or  ideal}  The  method  of  acquiring  words  in  columns 
will  have  something  in  common  with  acquiring  words 
in  any  other  way.  But  he  does  maintain  that  the 
spelling  skill  developed  by  column  drills  will  spread 
to  composition  work  when  the  elements  are  identical, 
or  similar,  or  based  upon  fundamentally  similar  laws 
of  structure.  Indeed,  to  justify  the  column  drills  it 
is  only  necessary  to  show  that  ability  will  transfer 
when  identical  elements  are  present,  i.e.,  when  the 
words  are  the  same.  The  incidentalist  would  not 
affirm  that  learning  to  spell  certain  words  in  reading 
and  writing  sentences  will  develop  a  universal  spell- 
ing ability  which  will  enable  the  child  to  spell  any 
word  which  has  not  occurred  in  his  reading.  To  make 
a  legitimate  and  adequate  test  of  the  question  of 
transfer,  therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  observe  the 
following  conditions :  Dictate  to  the  children  compo- 
sitions, relevant  to  their  stage  of  development  and 
interests,  containing  among  other  words  a  given 
number  of  test  words  which  have  at  some  previous 
time  been  subjected  to  a  thoroughgoing  drill  treat- 
ment in  columns.  This  test  should  be  paralleled  by 
a  column  test  containing  the  selected  list  of  test 
words.  In  correcting  the  papers  only  the  drill  or  test 
words  are  to  be  considered.  Compliance  with  these 
conditions  will  strip  the  problem  of  irrelevant  com- 
plications, and  eliminate  all  factors  save  the  factor 
under  investigation,  which  scientific  procedure  de- 


*  It  is  not  intended  to  categorically  deny  the  possibility  of  transfer 
to  subject-matter  which  is  different  in  nature — a  possibility  which  is 
at  least  indicated  by  a  number  of  recent  experiments.  But  the  ques- 
tion may  be  left  open  here  as  it  is  not  essential  to  the  argument. 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  25 

mands  shall  be  kept  under  controlled  conditions.  The 
question  then  becomes :  Does  learning  to  spell  words 
correctly  in  one  situation  result  in  spelling  them  cor- 
rectly in  a  different  situation?  To  proceed  to  solve 
the  problem  in  the  usual  slap-dash  manner  is  to  beg 
the  whole  question,  if  we  conceive  it  in  terms  of 
transfer.  Accordingly,  in  the  test  to  be  described 
presently,  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  supply  the 
requirements  which,  as  has  been  shown,  are  essential 
to  the  solution  of  the  particular  problem  in  hand. 

Before  taking  up  the  question  of  transfer,  how- 
ever, it  will  be  convenient  to  consider  the  differences 
in  spelling  efficiency  which  were  found  between  vari- 
ous schools,  grades,  ages,  and  the  two  sexes. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SPELLING  PROFICIENCY  AS  MEASURED  BY 

SCHOOL  AND  GRADE  TOTALS. 

Somewhat  over  one  thousand  children  in  three  dif- 
ferent public  schools  in  Cleveland,  from  the  fourth  to 
the  eighth  grade,  inclusive,  were  tested  on  lists  of 
from  forty  to  fifty  words.  The  lists  follow  Table  I. 
These  words  had  been  given  in  the  regular  inter- 
school  contests  of  November,  1909,  and  January, 
1910.  Some  of  the  words  had  been  drilled  upon  in 
September  and  October  (all  those  used  in  schools  A 
and  B,  except  grades  four  and  five),  and  the  others 
in  October  and  November.  The  tests  were  given  in 
November  (the  last  two  days),  December  and  Janu- 
ary (see  Table  I  for  details),  so  that  the  time  which 
had  elapsed  between  the  studying  of  the  words  and 
the  tests  varied  from  about  three  to  thirteen  weeks. 
School  C  probably  offers  an  exception  to  this,  be- 
cause the  column  test  for  this  school  was  the  regular 
January  interschool  test,  given  by  the  authorities 
under  the  usual  regulations,  for  which  the  children, 
or  at  least  some  of  them,  probably  made  some  special 
preparation.  My  composition  test  followed  this 
by  about  one  week.  For  my  tests  there  was,  of 
course,  no  preparation  made  by  the  pupils.  In  the 
case  of  school  A  the  composition  test  preceded  the 
column  test,  while  the  reverse  was  true  in  school  B 
— and  in   C,  for  the   reason  already  given.     The 

26 


IN    RELATION    TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  27 

priority  of  the  tests  would  not  ceem  to  be  material  in 
the  present  case,  since  the  children  did  not  suspect 
that  a  seconod  test  was  coming.  Only  the  class  aver- 
ages could  be  obtained  in  the  column  tests  of  school 
C,  hence  the  results  are  not  given  separatelj^  for  the 
different  sections. 

The  tests  were  conducted  by  the  principals  and 
teachers  of  the  schools  under  exacting  and  detailed 
written  instructions  supplied  by  the  writer.^  The 
instructions  were  explained  in  personal  conference 
with  the  principals,  and  the  fact  that  they  must  be 
rigidly  followed  was  emi^hasized.  The  conditions  to 
be  observed  were,  briefly,  the  following :  The  pupils 
were  to  be  given  no  aid,  and  were  to  be  kept  in  total 
ignorance  regarding  the  purjoose  of  the  tests,  except 
that  they  were  to  be  told  to  read  through  only  once 
the  words  and  compositions  dictated  to  them,  and 
make  any  corrections  of  misspellings  observed  (very 
few  seemed  to  have  profited  by  this  suggestion).  The 
tests  were  to  be  held  in  the  various  grades  tested  in 
a  building  at  the  same  hour  and  on  the  same  day. 
The  pupils  were  to  write  the  words  and  the  composi- 
tions from  the  teacher's  dictation.  The  teacher  was 
asked  to  dictate  clearly.  The  teachers  of  the  classes 
tested  wrote  the  compositions.  It  was  explained  that 
they  should  be  simple  in  character,  so  that  the  child 


^For  assistajice  in  this  work  I  am  under  obligations  to  Principals 
Laura  K.  Collister,  Harriet  E.  Terrell,  and  Harriet  E.  Chase;  and  to 
the  following  teachers:  Bertha  Pratt.  Eleanore  Mitchell,  Edna  New- 
man, L.  M.  Burke,  A.  M.  Borneman,  Mary  Payer,  Amelia  Worswiek, 
Lucy  Belding,  Eose  Walcott,  Rena  Goss.  Mary  Armstrong.  May  Wood- 
ley.  Harriet  Carey,  Isabella  Campbell,  Lulu  Slayton,  Alice  Wightman, 
Ruth  Evans,  Lenora  DoUins,  Irma  Collins.  Ada  Beckwith.  Mary  Han- 
rahan.  Ettina  Wychgel,  Mary  Martin.  Bertha  Brown.  Edith  Tanner, 
Clara  Elmer.  Jennie  Gleeson.  Nanna  Ring,  Estelle  Kramer,  and  Ida 
Kelly.  Rudolpb  B.  Wallin  has  aided  me  in  compiling  and  tabu- 
lating the  results. 


28  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

might  understand  them,  and  that  they  must  contain 
all  the  test  words  and  any  other  words  needed  to  give 
continuity  and  meaning  to  the  composition.  It  was 
no  easy  matter,  obviously,  to  patch  together  a  list  of 
selected  words  of  widely  varying  reference  and  dif- 
ficulty into  a  composition  that  would  read  smoothly 
and  make  a  simple,  coherent,  intelligible  context.  It 
was  believed  that  the  teachers,  who  were  constantly 
in  direct  touch  with  the  children  of  the  various 
classes,  could  do  this  with  the  greatest  success.  Upon 
examination  of  the  narratives  I  find  that  some  of 
them  tended  to  make  rather  difficult  reading,  owing  to 
the  difficulty  of  some  of  the  test  words.  The  compo- 
sition tests  were  thus  carried  out  under  conditions 
that  should  be  unfavorable  rather  than  favorable  for 
transfer.  The  correction  of  the  papers  was  based 
upon  the  selected  drill  or  test  words,  as  already 
explained ;  and  fortunately  the  drill  method  in  vogue 
in  teaching  spelling  in  the  different  schools  was 
strictly  uniform,  as  already  explained.  It  will  be 
recalled  that  the  drill  technique  involved,  as  a  sup- 
plementary feature,  dictation  work.  Composition 
was  also  an  element  of  the  method,  supplying  the 
phase  of  application. 

The  detailed  results  of  these  tests  appear  in  the 
tables  which  follow.  Our  analysis  of  them  may  be 
considered  under  two  headings. 


IN   RELATION   TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX. 


29 


The  Transfer  of  Spelling  Efficiency. 
TABLE  I. 


Composition  Test. 

Column  Test  (list  of  words). 

-d 

n 

•v 

m 

0  0) 

^1 

0  a> 

0  • 

"o 

a; 

o 

^2 

0)  a> 

<M 
0 

|| 

55    _ 

© 

a-a 

^  Z 

b  ^ 

§■5- 

o 

u 

OS  <u 

s  s 

S  0 

Q  a> 

3  S 

£  0 

>  0 

cc 

o 

CH 

Z?H 

^0 

PH 

?;PM 

P,u 

<P3 

A 

5  a 

11-29 

38 

84.41 

1909 

42 

91.22 

87.81 

A 

5  b 
5 

11-29 

24 
62 

90.93 

12-1 

23 
65 

96.14 

93.53 

Ave. 

87.67 

93.68 

90.63 

A 

6  a 

11-30 

37 

95.90 

12-1 

39 

96.60 

96.20 

A 

6  b 
6 

11-30 

39 
76 

94.16 

12-1 

38 

77 

97.82 

95.99 

Ave. 

95.03 

97.21 

96.09 

A 

7  a 

11-30 

32 

91.25 

12-1 

30 

97.33 

94.29 

A 

7  b 

7 

11-30 

31 
63 

93.50 

12-1 

28 
58 

96.40 
96.86 

94.90 

Ave. 

92.37 

94.59 

A 

8 

11-30 

41 

92.9 

12-2 

41 

93.90 

93.40 

A   Ave. 

91.99 

95.41 

93.70 

B 

4  a 

12-10 

42 

98.87 

12-9 

43 

99.01 

98.94 

B 

4  b 
4 

12-10 

30 

72 

96.67 

12-9 

29 
72 

99.06 

97.86 

Ave. 

97.77 

99.03 

98.40 

B 

5  a 

12-10 

43 

98.20 

12-10 

43 

99.31 

98.75 

B 

5  b 
5 

12-10 

43 
86 

99.99 
99.09 

12-10 

43 
86 

99.96 
99.63 

99.97 

Ave. 

99.36 

B 

6  a 

12-10 

40 

96.88 

12-9 

44 

96.43 

96.65 

B 

6  b 

6 

12-10 

34 
74 

99.92 

12-9 

34 
78 

95.45 
95.94 

97.68 

Ave. 

98.40 

97.16 

SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 


TABLE  I 

(Continued). 

Composition  Test. 

Column  Test  (list  of  words). 

4) 

oc 

■d 

4? 

ki 

<W   00 

O  0) 

<M   O 

W   CO 

o 

<o 

o 

%2L 

§1 

c 

p 

?  _ 

o 

S3 

t^ 

4)^J 

la 

u 

n  a) 

S  3 

fli  o 

03  ^ 

3  3 

4)  O 

>  O 

m 

O 

QH 

ZCU 

S5 

CH 

2:^ 

o^a 

<»:ca 

B 

7  a 

12-10 

39 

98.60 

12-9 

36 

99.18 

98.89 

B 

7b 

12-10 

33 

97.70 

12-9 

30 

98.40 

98.05 

B 

7  c 

7 

12-10 

37 
109 

98.02 
98,10 

12-9 

38 
104 

97.91 
98.49 

97.96 

Ave. 

98.30 

B 

8  a 

12-10 

36 

96.53 

12-9 

36 

96.52 

96.52 

B 

8  b 
8 

12-10 

42 

78 

96.43 

12-9 

42 
78 

96.49 

96.46 

Ave. 

96.48 

96.50 
97.92 

96.49 

B  Ave. 

97.97 

97.94 

C 

5  a 

1-13 

37 

99.08 

1910 

C 

5  b 

1-13 

43 

98.50 

Ave. 

5 

80 

98.79 

1-6 

105 

99.12 

98.95 

C 

6  a 

1-13 

42 

99.27 

C 

6  b 

1-13 

18 

95.66 

c 

6  e 
6 

1-13 

35 
95 

93.30 

1-6 

105 

99.16 

Ave. 

96.07 

97.61 

C 

7  a 

1-13 

40 

98.00 

C 

7  b 

^1-13 

18 

98.33 

c 

7  c 
7 

^1-13 

41 
99 

96.20 

1-6 

100 

99.14 

Ave. 

97.26 

98.20 

C 

8  a 

1-13 

45 

98.80 

c 

8  b 

8 

1-13 

42 
87 

98.71 

1-6 

87 

99.14 

Ave. 

98.75 

98.97 

C  Ave. 

97.72 

99.14 

98.43 

IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


o  1 


TABLE  II. 

SUMMARIES. 
Averages  for  All  Schools. 


B 

4 

72 

97.77 

72 

99.03 

AB&C 

5 

228 

95.18 

256 

97.47 

A,B&C 

6 

245 

96.50 

260 

97.43 

A,B&C 

7 

271 

95.91 

262 

98.16 

A,B«&C 

8 

206 
1022 

96,04 
96.28 

206 
1056 

96.51 

97.72 

Combined  Averages  for  the  Composition  and  Column 
Tests,  All  Schools. 


Grades. 
Per  cents. 


98.40 


5 
96.31 


6 
96.95 


7 

97.03 


96.28 


All  grades. 
97.00 


WORDS  USED  IN  THE  SPELLING  TESTS. 
GRADE  4.     SCHOOL  B  ONLY. 
A,  B  and  G  refer  to  the  schools  tested.     Tlie  numerals    (4  to  8) 
refer  to  the  grades,  and  the  small  letters   (a,  b,  c)   to  different  sec- 
tions in  the  grades. 


accident 

excite 

arctic 

nephew 

biscuit 

indolent 

beauty 

fringe 

poultry 

nickname 

canary 

kidnap 

kettle 

separate 

stolen 

oyster 

orchard 

waiter 

walnut 

toilet 

subtract 

cautious 

package 

yield 

aloud 

goldenrod 

timid 

dainty 

decimal 

kennel 

bashful 

husband 

imitate 

oblige 

exact 

lizard 

mayor 

rhyme 

jo-itle 

needle 

GRADE  5. 

SCHOOL  A,  5  b. 

The  same 

words  were  used 

in  5  a,  except  that 

parish  was  su 

tuted  for  pa 

rrot. 

surname 

stirred 

believe 

moat 

protection 

recovery 

typewriter 

harvest 

auction 

courage 

numerator 

gild 

drudgery 

separate 

eyelash 

wildcarrot 

musician 

ostrich 

crystal 

caterpillar 

invitation 

February 

gauze 

pedal 

woodchuck 

cellar 

parrot 

bruise 

chaise 

arc 

chariot 

possessive 

abandon 

lantern 

resign 

subtraction 

escort 

business 

lea 

falsehood 

32 


SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 


GRADE  5.     SCHOOL  B. 

The  first  fifteen  words  of  School  A,  grade  5,  above,  were  used,  and 
the  following: 


divine 

minstrel 

everything 

harvest 

entice 
overcoat 

vegetable 
alcove 

tortoise 
crammed 

industry 
knowledge 

parasol 
quay 

jovial 
corridor 

chariot 
ballast 

bulb 
partridge 

leopard 
cistern 

area 

GRADE  5. 

harpoon 
SCHOOL  C. 

pavilion 

Most  of  the  above  words  in  Schools  A  and  B,  grade  5,  and  the  fol- 
lowing: scythe,  column,  geranium,  calyx,  parish,  fractional,  icicle, 
lightening. 


GRADE  6.     SCHOOLS  A  and  B. 


majority 

stencil 

scenery 

colonist 

national 

emery 

superb 

exploration 

government 

prophecy 

frothy 

preface 

courteous 

betray 

benzine 

paragraph 

brilliant 

drench 

kerosene 

interrogative 

ambitious 

radiator 

fertilizer 

italic 

entrance 

scuffle 

converse 

tributary 

shrinkage 

radius 

terrier 

mistletoe 

customary 

mimic 

straighten 

smilax 

absent 

marriage 

scheme 

numerical 

GRADE  6. 

SCHOOL  C. 

automobile 

calvary 

pewter 

diamond 

magnificent 

palatial 

caramel 

minor 

genial 

construction 

juice 

percentage 

acquaintance 

ravine 

i-egal 

attribute 

surgeon 

tact 

liassock 

raiser 

honorary 

assistance 

mohair 

mucilage 

caucus 

trustworthy 

assess 

stationery 

acquire 

biscuit 

obscure 

calendar 

glacial 

doily 

peninsula 

skein 

ancestor 

eyelet 

tedious 

barnacle 

invalid 

embroidery 

masculine 

withhold 

cutler 

colander 

creditor 

IN   RELATION    TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX. 


33 


GRADE  7.     Schools  A  and  B. 


present 

infinitive 

monarchy 

bilious 

wrought 

architecture 

masquerade 

prospective 

gigantic 

stockade 

tonsil 

giraffe 

weighty 

veteran 

impossible 

decimal 

unwelcome 

accomplished 

biscuit 

duchess 

tragedy 

champion 

besieged 

venom 

reservoir 

scientific 

valiant 

militia 

sensitive 

obelisk 

gesture 

chandelier 

insipid 

militia 

School  A,  b  used  the  following  additional  words:  acquit,  sediment, 
delicious,  perceive,  courtesy,  achieve,  subtile,  while  A,  a,  and  B,  a,  b, 
and  c  selected  from  the  following:  intrench,  mercenary,  duplicate, 
forfeit,  soldier,  metropolis,  quadrille,  parquet,  avalanche,  cancel,  vul- 
ture. 

GRADE  7.     SCHOOL  C,  a,  b,  and  c. 


oracle 

transitive 

vindicate 

shampoo 

frontier 

impede 

liberal 

profile 

vehicle 

partial 

principle 

ledger 

caboose 

contour 

consider 

autograph 

burrow 

visible 

obstinate 

pendulum 

quantity 

humidity 

concede 

circular 

burlap 

provincial 

surpass 

irritate 

fugitive 

grocer 

spouse 

goggles 

dishonor 

ammonia 

transfer 

maxim 

active 

designate 

gouge 

capitol 

volatile 

baritone 

couoh 

conquest 

converse 

cartridge 

bodice 

sculptor 

abolish 

torpedoes 

GRADE   8. 

SCHOOL  B. 

persistence 

bronchitis 

tabernacle 

refrigerator 

explicit 

requisite 

guttural 

insolvent 

affidavit 

efficacious 

discordant 

visible 

veracity 

hydrogen 

alien 

wondrous 

scrutiny 

corpuscle 

pamphlet 

recreant 

hospital 

incisors 

graduate 

sirens 

development 

enthusiasm 

kindergarten 

rioter 

comrades 

augment 

affirmative 

delineate 

children's 

deficit 

illegal 

barometer 

valvular 

erodus 

chiffonier 

enyclopedia 

GRADE  8. 

SCHOOL  A. 

Those  in  B  and  the  following  additional  words  were  used:  remedies, 
attendant,  synopsis,  diversity,  feign,  competitor,  charade,  spherical, 
variable,  artesian. 


34 


SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 


GRADE  8.     SCHOOL  C. 


secession 

capacity 

centennial 

lariat 

Americanized 

calcimined 

quartette 

contagious 

republic 

mosaic 

uncouth 

disinfectant 

questionable 

glazier 

pedestrians 

chemdstry 

sagacity 

seraph 

naturalized 

magnesium 

intolerant 

modulation 

occasion 

glycerine 

emperor 

plenteous 

culinary 

drama 

consistent 

promiscuous 

suspicion 

epitaph 

royalist 

changeable 

subordinate 

stenographer 

appraise 

carmine 

emphatic 

preservation 

accessible 

vermilion 

mandate 

compartment 

boundary 

pheasant 

precedent 

delinquent 

aquarium 

plover 

The  Avords  used  for  the  fifth  grades  were  studied  during  the 
October-Xovember  assignment ;  those  for  the  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth 
grades  of  Schools  A  and  B  were  studied  during  September  and  Oc- 
tober, and  of  School  C  during  October  and  November. 


Fifty  words  were  spelled  in  all  the  grades  of  school  C ;  and 
forty  in  schools  A  and  B,  except  in  the  eighth  grade  of  school 
A,  where  fifty  were  spelled,  and  the  three  seventh  grade  classes 
of  school  B,  and  section  6  of  school  A,  where  forty-four  were 
used,  and  section  a  of  the  seventh  grade  of  school  A,  where 
fifty  words  were  spelled.  The  results  for  the  seventh  grade 
of  school  A  are  slightly  too  low,  as  some  of  the  markers  graded 
on  the  basis  of  forty  words  and  others  on  the  basis  of  all 
the  words  used.  The  correction  of  these  slight  inaccuracies 
would  not  have  modified  the  final  results  to  any  appreciable 
extent. 

The  dictated  compositions  were  identical  in  the  following 
schools,  grades  and  sections :  In  school  B,  grade  4,  a  and  b. 
In  school  A,  5,  a  and  h.  In  school  C,  5,  a  and  h.  In  school 
C,  5,  a  and  h.  In  schools  A  and  B,  grade  6,  a  and  h.  In 
school  C,  6,  a  and  c.  In  schools  A,  7,  a  and  h,  and  B,  a,  b  and 
(.  In  school  C,  7,  a,  b,  and  r.  In  schools  A  and  B,  8.  In  all 
other  cases  the  compositions  differed  in  context,  but  the  grad- 
ing was  based  on  the  same  lists  of  words  (the  lists  given 
above). 

The  number  of  pupils  tested  in  the  column  and  composition 
exercises  does  not  precisely  correspond  because  some  of  the 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  35 

pupils  were  absent  on  one  of  the  test  days.  This  slight  un- 
avoidable irregularity  will  not,  it  is  believed,  alter  the  final 
averages  to  any  appreciable  extent. 

I.  The  degree  of  spelling  proficiency  shoivn  irre- 
spective of  the  question  of  transfer. — The  general 
average  for  all  schools  is  97%.  The  lowest  building 
average  (the  general  average  of  all  grades  tested 
in  one  building)  was  93.7%,  and  the  highest  98.43% — 
a  difference  of  4.73%.  The  lowest  grade  average 
(the  general  average  of  all  sections  of  the  same 
grade  for  all  buildings)  was  96.31%,  fifth  grade,  and 
the  highest  97.03%,  seventh  grade — a  difference  of 
only  .72%.  This,  however,  is  exclusive  of  the  fourth 
grade,  98.40%,  in  which  only  72  pupils  in  one  school 
were  tested.  If  these  are  considered,  the  range  of 
variation  is  2.09%.  The  lowest  grade  average  in  a 
single  building  is  90.637c,  in  the  fifth  grade  of  school 
A,  and  the  highest  99.36%  in  the  fifth  grade  of  school 
B — a  difference  of  8.73%.  The  lowest  average  for 
any  single  section  of  any  grade  of  the  three  schools 
is  87.81,  in  section  h  of  the  fifth  grade  of  school  A, 
and  the  highest  99.977c,  in  section  h  of  the  fifth 
grade  of  school  B — a  difference  of  12.167c.  The  cor- 
responding extremes  in  the  composition  series  alone 
are  84.417c,  (5rt,  school  A),  and  99.997c  (for  forty- 
three  pupils  in  bh,  school  B) — a  difference  of 
15.587c;  and  for  the  column  tests,  91.227c  (5«,  A) 
and  99.967c  (56,  5)— a  difference  of  8.747c.  The 
greatest  section  difference,  i.  e.,  between  the  aver- 
ages of  the  two  or  three  sections  of  the  same  grade, 
irrespective  of  the  school,  is  15.587c  (between  5a, 
composition,  school  A,  and  5Z>,  composition,  B),  and 
the  smallest  variation  .037c  (8a  and  h,  column  test, 


36  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

school  B) — a  range  of  15.55%.  In  Aa  and  b,  column 
test,  school  B,  the  difference  is  only  .05% ;  in  C,  Sa 
and  b,  composition  test,  .09% ;  and  in  B,  Sa  and  b, 
composition  test,  10%.  The  greatest  difference  be- 
tween different  sections  of  the  same  grade  in  the 
same  building  is  6.52%  (sections  a  and  b  of  grade 
five,  school  A).  These  facts  furnish  data  for  several 
important  deductions. 

First,  the  general  spelling  efficiency  for  all  schools 
shown  (97%)  is  striking.  It  is  12.6%  higher  than 
Kratz's  results  (84.4%,  for  the  fourth  to  eighth 
grades,  inclusive),  25%  higher  than  Chancellor's 
(72%,  for  10,000  pupils  from  the  fourth  to  eighth 
grade),  25.48%  higher  than  the  results  in  Rice's 
column  test  (71.52%), which  consisted  of  a  list  of  dic- 
tated words,  and  22.42%)  higher  than  the  results 
from  his  sentence  test,  which  consisted  of  dictated 
sentences  containing  50  test  words  for  the  fourth  and 
fifth  grades,  and  75  words  for  the  sixth,  seventh 
and  eighth  grades.  It  eclipses  by  25.7%  Corn- 
man's  average^  in  three  term  examinations  during 
three  years  for  eighty  Philadelphia  schools  (71.3%), 
and  is  27%  higher  than  the  results  of  these  examin- 
ations in  his  two  experimental  schools  (70%),  in 
which  the  spelling  instruction  was  incidental.  In 
four  column  tests  given  to  these  two  schools  from 
September  to  June  and  consisting  of  lists  of  fifty 
words  differing  from  grade  to  grade,  the  averages 
were  33%?,  49%,  50%  and  50%  respectively  for  one 
school,  and  49,  57,  60  and  68%  for  the  other;  while 

*  Oornraan's  figures  are  based  upon  the  median  instead  of  the  aver- 
age. It  has  been  shown  in  other  experiments  that  the  medians  and 
averages  do  not  always  coincide,  but  that  they  tend  to  do  so  in  the 
latter  part  of  practice  series.  Sometimes  the  difTerence  is  very  con- 
siderable. Whether  the  median  is  a  more  valuable  measure  of  typical 
results  than  tlie  tlie  mean  needi  to  be  determined  with  more  accur- 
aey  (12:   pp.  248,  258). 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  ol 

the  repetition  of  Rice's  column  and  sentence  tests 
gave  an  average  efficiency  in  1897  of  78.9%  in  one 
school,  and  67.1%  in  the  other,  and  in  1898  73.1%? 
and  65.4%  respectively,  for  the  column  test.  The 
corresponding  averages  for  the  sentence  test  were: 
82.3  and  74.6%  in  1897,  and  76.5  and  77.97o  in  1898. 
It  will  be  observed  that  there  was  a  loss  of  efficiency 
in  1898  except  in  the  case  of  the  sentence  test  for 
one  school. 

Fortunately  these  results  are  comparable  because 
they  are  based  upon  the  same  fundamental  method : 
an  arbitrarily  selected  list  of  words  unannounced 
to  the  pupils.  The  contrast  with  the  Cleveland 
results  is  most  striking.  Nowhere  can  our  degree 
of  efficiency  be  paralleled  in  Rice's  and  Cornman's 
tests,  except  in  their  composition  tests  and  in  Corn- 
man's  series  of  spontaneously  spelled  words  (the 
pupils  wrote  during  fifteen  minutes  as  many  words 
as  came  into  their  minds).  In  Rice's  composition 
tests  the  pupils  reproduced  a  story  read  to  them, 
or  wrote  original  stories  about  pictures  shown  to 
them,  while  in  Cornman's  they  wrote  compositions 
and  papers  in  answer  to  questions  in  geography, 
history,  language  and  elementary  science.  With, 
these  tests  Rice's  efficiencies  varied  from  99.6  to 
95.9%,  and  Cornman's  results  for  eight  tests  in  one 
of  the  experimental  schools  averaged  97.8% ;  and 
for  ten  tests  in  the  other  school,  96.7%.  In  the 
three  tests  given  during  three  successive  years  on 
spontaneously  written  word  lists  the  general  aver- 
age for  one  of  these  schools  was  95%. 

There  are  reasons  why  the  latter  tests  cannot  be 
compared  with  the  other  tests  of  these  writers  or 
with  our  own  and  why  no  significant  conclusions 

538(15 


38  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

can  be  deduced  from  them.  First  of  all,  the  range 
of  words  used  was  probably  not  broad  enough  to 
genuinely  test  spelling  efficiency — at  least  the  tests 
furnish  no  guarantee  that  it  was,  and  Rice,  by  impli- 
cation if  not  expressly,  concedes  that  there  is  a 
Xwint  to  this  criticism.  The  words  used  were  prob- 
ably ordinary,  familiar  or  simple  words,  or  tech- 
nical words  frequently  recurring  in  the  lessons.  On 
this  point  the  published  records  give  no  informa- 
tion. Moreover,  in  some  of  these  tests  the  child 
had  carte  blanche  in  the  matter  of  the  selection  of 
the  words :  he  was  free  to  choose  his  own  words. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  ordinary  child  in  such  a  sit- 
uation would  select  words  which  were  familiar  and 
which  could  be  readily  spelled  and  easily  written, 
in  preference  to  unusual,  or  difficult  words,  or  words 
of  uncertain  orthography.  This  would  tend  to 
cramp  his  vocabulary  in  the  interest  of  correct 
orthography — a  situation  indeed  found  to  be  true 
in  a  mass  of  correspondence  examined  by  Chancel- 
lor (4).  Even  when  reproducing  stories  read  to 
them  the  children  would  tend — and  the  records  do 
not  show  that  they  did  not — to  substitute  synomTiious 
words  for  words  difficult  to  remember  or  hard  to 
spell;  and  I  presume  that  an  exact  literal  reproduc- 
tion was  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule,  except 
where  the  stories  were  dictated  phrase  by  phrase. 
Some  such  conclusion  as  this  seems  almost  inescap- 
able. Else  why  the  enormous  difference  between 
the  spelling  efficiency  in  the  column,  sentence  and 
composition  tests?  Why  the  extraordinary  effi- 
ciency shown  in  Rice's  picture-story  test  (99.3%), 
in  which  the  pupils  controlled  absolutely  the  choice 
of  words?     The  unusual   efficiency   of  the   eighth 


IN    RELATION   TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  39 

grade  pupils  in  the  test  on  spontaneously  written 
words,  99%,  also  indicates  as  much.  The  more 
mature  pupils  would  naturally  exercise  more  judg- 
ment in  selecting  their  words.  They  would  hesi- 
tate to  write  words  they  did  not  know  how  to  spell, 
particularly  if  they  had  any  sort  of  suspicion  that 
attention  would  be  paid  to  the  spelling  by  the  exam- 
iners and  particularly  if  the  custom  prevailed  in 
these  schools  of  correcting  the  sj^elling  of  the  writ- 
ten work.  It  does  not  seem  therefore  that  tests  of 
this  nature  have  any  particular  virtue,  or  the  vir- 
tues claimed  for  them.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how 
they  represent  the  complex  life  situations  more 
faithfully  than  dictated  lists  or  compositions;  for 
it  is  precisel)^  the  lack  of  the  freedom  to  choose 
the  words  of  his  own  preference  that  character- 
izes the  work  of  the  stenographer,  transcriber  and 
amenuensis;  and  it  is  just  an  impoverished  vocab- 
ulary that  a  virile  writer  must  shun.  If  we  would 
arrive  at  any  valid  conclusion  as  to  methods  of 
teaching  spelling  (the  drill  or  the  incidental)  we 
seem  justified  therefore  in  barring  these  tests. 

But  objections  may  be  lodged  against  the  legiti- 
macy of  our  own  tests.  It  will  be  well  to  anticipate 
and  answer  these. 

(1)  It  may  be  urged  that  the  words  used  were 
not  sufficiently  difficult.  The  words  are  a  matter 
of  record  (see  pp.  31-34).  Many  of  them  were  spe- 
cially selected  because  the  children  had  tended  to 
misspell  them  in  the  past.  Comparison  with  the 
lists  of  words  used  in  the  tests  given  by  Kratz, 
Rice  and  Cornman  will  show  that  they  compare 
very  favorably  in  difficulty.  Some  of  the  lists  are 
considerablv  more  difficult  than  Kratz 's  or  Rice's. 


40  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

Cornman's  "review  list  of  difficult  words,"  how- 
ever, is  fully  as  difficult  and  is  more  extensive  (four 
tests). 

(2)  Since  our  tests  were  given  to  three  schools 
only  there  is  no  guarantee  that  they  are  typical. 
Fortunately  we  are  in  a  position  to  determine  the 
rank  of  these  schools  relative  to  the  other  schools 
in  the  system,  from  the  official  report  of  the  super- 
visor of  spelling  for  the  two  eighth-week  interschool 
contests  covering  the  same  words.  School  A,  it 
appeared,  occupied  the  38th,  B  the  third,  and  C  the 
28th  rank  among  somewhat  less  than  one  hundred 
schools.  Accordingly  these  were  neither  the  best 
nor  the  worst  of  the  Cleveland  schools  in  spelling 
efficiency,  so  far  as  this  particular  list  of  words  is 
concerned.  The  three  together  would  take  rank 
with  the  first  third.  Moreover,  while  the  average 
number  of  words  misspelled  per  pupil  for  all  the 
schools  of  the  city  in  these  two  contests  was  1.235 
and  1.698  respectively,  the  poorest  school  did  not 
fall  below  5.284  words  per  child  in  the  November 
contest,  nor  below  5.897  in  the  January  contest. 
Furthermore,  since  the  best  building  averages  in 
these  contests  were  .059  and  .236  words  misspelled 
per  pupil,  the  range  of  variation  amounted  to  only 
5.227  and  5.661  words  between  the  best  and  poorest 
building  averages.  For  our  three  schools  the  vari- 
ation between  the  building  averages  amounted  to 
4.73%.  These  figures  are  less  than  the  variations 
found  by  Rice  between  eighteen  schools  (from  his 
Table  No.  2),  which  were  28.2%  for  the  column  test 
(from  92.7  to  64.5%)  and  7.4%  for  the  sentence  tests 
(from  79.4  to  727c) ;  and  are  about  as  small  as  his 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  41 

variations  between  city  averages.  With  the  sen- 
tence test  his  variation  was  3.3 7^  between  seven 
cities  (from  76.87  to  73.5%);  with  the  column  test, 
4.2%  for  twelve  cities  (74.8  to  70.6%);  and  with 
the  composition  test,  4.6%)  for  fifteen  cities  (77.9 
to  73.3%).  That  the  variation  in  Cleveland  is  so 
small  not  only  indicates  the  utility  of  the  ''spell- 
ing grind"  in  vogue  there,  but  that  our  results  from 
the  three  schools  tested  may  be  considered  fairly 
representative  of  the  system  at  large.  Even  if  allow- 
ance is  made  for  the  fact  that  the  three  test  schools 
belong  to  the  upper  third  in  efficiency,  the  record 
of  the  poorest  school  (it  was  the  same  one  in  both 
of  the  interschool  contests)  is  not  nearly  so  low  as 
to  reduce  the  results  to  the  level  of  efficiency  shown 
in  Rice's  and  Cornman's  column  and  sentence  tests. 
Finally  it  should  be  remarked  that  the  results  which 
we  have  shown  in  this  test  are  not  extremes  of  the 
spelling  work  done  recently  in  Cleveland.  They  have 
been  duplicated  in  the  interschool  contests  during  the 
last  three  years. 

(3)  It  may  be  objected  that  our  results  are  based 
on  test  words  that  had  been  recently  drilled.  This, 
of  course,  is  a  circumstance  of  moment.  Our  words 
had  been  drilled  or  reviewed  not  more  than  about 
three  months  before  the  test.  Obviously  the  effi- 
ciency will  be  higher  on  recently  studied  words 
than  those  remotely  studied.  To  this  criticism  a 
couple  of  replies  are  pertinent.  In  the  first  place, 
the  published  records  of  the  other  investigators 
throw  no  light  whatever  upon  this  problem.  Un- 
doubtedly some  of  the  words  given  in  their  column, 
sentence  and  composition  tests  had  been  recently 
attended  to  or  studied:  to  what  extent  cannot  be 


42  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

even  approximately  deduced  from  the  records.     It 

is  manifest  that  in  the  composition  tests  —  the 
papers  in  geography,  science,  etc. — many  of  the 
words  had  to  be  especially  attended  to  day  by  day. 
Nor  can  we  determine  from  those  tests  to  what 
extent  the  words  had  occurred  in  specific  spelling 
lessons.  In  a  word,  then,  for  the  Cleveland  tests 
we  can  say  almost  precisely  what  the  conditions  of 
recency  were,  but  must  make  such  suppositions  as 
seem  warranted  for  the  other  tests. 

Furthermore,  there  is  no  known  immunity  against 
forgetfulness :  it  is  one  of  the  most  persistent  traits 
of  consciousness.  Not  only  do  memory  images 
grow  faint  with  the  lapse  of  time  (and  spelling 
offers  no  exception),  but  habits  likewise  disintegrate. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  habit  in  the  whole  field  of  sen- 
sory, intellectual  or  motor  automatisms  that  can 
be  so  well  organized  and  integrated  that  it  will  not 
disintegrate  more  or  less  if  all  repetition  or  prac- 
tice is  abandoned — whether  the  habit  pertains  to 
the  art  of  piano  playing,  legerdemain,  writing,  pro- 
nouncing, adding,  subtracting,  or  spelling.  Habits 
perhaps  can  never  be  made  as  stable  as  reflexes  (so 
Titchener).  This  is  an  ultimate  that  any  method 
will  have  to  reckon  with,  and  it  constitutes  a  defect 
that  cannot  be  laid  at  the  door  of  any  particular 
method.  Its  roots  lie  deep  in  the  nervous  sub- 
stratum of  the  psychic  life.  Nevertheless,  it  can 
be  confidently  affirmed  that  those  habits  which  have 
been  thoroughly  ingrained  will  resist  decay  longer 
than  those  which  have  been  only  partially  solidified, 
or  which  have  been  loosely  organized  by  slip-shod 
methods.  A  completely  formed  habit  is  relatively, 
if  not  absolutely,  stable.    And  it  is  the  claim  of  the 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  43 

advocate  of  the  drill  that  a  proper  drill  technique, 
consistently  applied,  will  engender  a  grade  of  habit 
organization  unattainable  by  the  incidental  method 
of  instruction  or  the  incidental  method  of  engen- 
dering automatic  control  of  mental  tools.  The  drill 
is  no  panacea  for  forgetfulness.  But  for  mechan- 
ical and  invariable  subject-matter  it  is  the  best 
remedy  at  our  command,  particularly  if  the  proc- 
ess is  strongly  motivated  by  felt  needs  to  solve  prac- 
tical problems ;  that  is,  if  the  child  has  been  made 
to  feel  that  his  problems  can  best  be  solved  by  devel- 
oping automatic  precision  of  response  through  a 
thoroughgoing  drill  technique. 

It  appears  therefore  that  our  tests  amply  dem- 
onstrate the  superior  value  of  a  skillful  spelling 
drill  technique  for  developing  orthographic  excel- 
lence, and  signally  refute  the  assertion  that  method 
in  teaching  spelling  is  of  no  consequence,  being  at 
most  a  subordinate  incident.  This  conclusion  will 
be  further  buttressed  by  a  consideration  of  the  rec- 
ords in  regard  to 

II.  The  relation  of  spelling  efficiency  to  the  grade. 
— The  variation  from  grade  to  grade  in  our  results 
is  so  slight  as  to  be  practically  negligible,  amount- 
ing to  only  .72%,  or  if  we  include  the  fourth  grade, 
2.12%  (from  98.4  to  96.28%).  The  contrast  with 
Rice's  and  Cornman's  figures  arrests  attention.  In 
Rice's  column  test  the  difference  between  the  4th 
and  8th  grades  amounted  to  30.7%  (from  84.2  to 
53.5%);  and  in  the  sentence  test,  20.2%,  (from  84.4 
to  64.2%).  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  dif- 
ferences are  between  the  general  averages  for 
twenty-one  cities  in  the  first  test,  and  eight  in  the 
second,  and  that  the  variations  between  the  gross 


44  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

averages  between  whole  city  systems  will  very  prob- 
ably be  less  than  between  individual  buildings.  In 
one  of  Cornman's  term  examinations  for  eleven 
schools  the  variation  between  the  3d  and  7th  grades 
is  16.2%  (from  75.8  to  59.6%);  and  in  another, 
given  to  the  third  to  the  seventh  grades  of  fifty 
buildings,  it  is  5.6%  (a  reduction  owing  to  the  mass- 
ing of  many  averages,  as  suggested  above).  When 
he  gave  Eice's  column  test  in  1898  to  one  of  the 
experimental  schools  the  difference  was  27. 2%^  (from 
93.7  to  66.5%);  and  with  the  sentence  test,  9.9% 
from  90.6  to  80.7%).  In  the  four  tests  based  on 
a  selected  list  of  difficult  words,  the  greatest  differ- 
ence was  49%  (from  74  to  25%)  in  one  school,  and 
36%  in  the  other  (from  82  to  46%).  Even  in  one 
of  the  tests  based  on  the  spontaneously  written 
words  the  difference  amounted  to  10%  (from  99  to 
89%).  It  is  only  in  the  latter  and  in  the  composi- 
tion tests  that  the  small  grade  variation  which  we 
have  found  is  equaled. 

By  analyzing  Table  I.  it  will  be  seen  that  most 
of  these  differences  are  larger  than  our  differences 
between  the  poorest  and  best  grades  of  a  single 
building  (8.737c),  or  the  poorest  and  best  single 
sections  in  any  one  of  the  schools  (12.16%),  or  be- 
tween the  different  sections  of  the  same  grade  in  all 
the  buildings  (15.58%). 

How  may  this  greater  uniformity  in  spelling  effi- 
ciency between  the  various  grades  of  the  schools 
studied  in  our  investigation  be  explained?  Partly, 
by  the  fact  that  we  used  different  lists  of  words 
for  the  different  grades,  the  lists  for  the  lower 
grades  containing  orthographically  simpler  words 
than  those  for  the  higher.    This  is  true  in  general, 


IN    BELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  45 

but  there  are  exceptions.     Various  words  given  to 
the  lower  grades  recurred  in  the  higher  grades.  Per- 
tinent as  is  this  suggestion,  the  data  indicate  (that 
this  is  only  one  of  the  contributing  causes.     For, 
while  Rice's  tests  were  based  upon  precisely  the 
same  words  for  all  classes  (except  the  composition 
and  story  tests),  and  thus  give  the  comparative  effi- 
ciency of  the  different  grades  as  measured  by  the 
same  standard,  Cornman  used  a  graded  series  of 
words  in  his  1898  and  1899  column  tests,  which  gen- 
erally increased  in  difficulty  from  grade  to  grade, 
and  in  these  tests  his  variation  in  the  two  experi- 
mental schools  in  which  the  incidental  method  was 
used  is  the  greatest  on  record.     Even  in  some  of 
the  tests  where  the  pupils  wrote  the  words  of  their 
choice   the  variation   is   greater  than   our   general 
grade  differences.     In  the  light  of  these  facts,  the 
conclusion  seems  inescapable:  the  slight  variation 
in  spelling  efficiency  which  we  find  between  the  vari- 
ous elementary  grades  is  a  function  of  method  tech- 
nique— not  a  function  of  method  solely,  to  be  sure, 
but,  so  far  as  our  data  indicate,  to  a  very  consider- 
able extent.    The  importance  of  method  for  the  nor- 
mal child  takes  creditable  rank  alongside  of  such 
factors  as  a  native  "talent,"  or  "knack"  or  "capa- 
city" for  spelling,  or  a  native  spelling  perverseness 
or  incorrigibility.     In  cases  where  there  is  a  pro- 
nounced spelling  defect,  due  to  cortical  lesions  or 
lack    of    cerebral    development,    improvement    of 
method  must,  on  the  psychical  side,  take  rank  with 
prophylactic  and  remedial  treatment  on  the  physi- 
ological side.    (This  conclusion  will  be  found  to  har- 
monize  with    the   judgments    of    the    teachers,    as 
reported  in  Chapter  V). 


46  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

In  our  own  tests,  while  the  differences  are  small, 
as  just  shown,  the  fourth  grade  occupies  the  highest 
rank,  followed  by  the  7th,  6th,  5th  and  8th  in  the 
order  named.  The  order  of  efficiency  found  by  Eice 
in  the  column  test  is :  8th,  7th,  6th,  5th  and  4th  grade 
(same  by  Cornman) ;  and  in  the  sentence  test  it  is 
8,  7,  5,  6,  4.  Cornman 's  order  of  proficiency  in  one 
of  the  term  tests  for  eleven  schools  is :  7  ,  6,  5,  3b,  3a 
^a  and  46;  in  the  sentence  test:  8,  4a,  bb,  7,  6a,  5a 
and  4a;  in  the  average  of  three  composition  tests 
for  three  years:  8,  7,  6,  5,  4,  3;  in  the  column  test 
with  words  of  varying  difficulty :  3a,  3b,  4a,  8,  4b,  7, 
6b,  5a  and  b,  and  6;  in  the  1900  term  examination 
for  50  schools:  4,  3,  7,  5,  and  6;  in  the  same  test  in 
1899  for  19  schools :  6,  4,  3,  7,  and  5 ;  and  in  the  lists 
of  spontaneously  written  words:  8,  7,  6,  5a,  4a,  4b, 
5b,  3b  and  3a.  These  figures  are  complete  enough 
to  show  that  there  is  not  a  regular  improvement 
from  grade  to  grade,  except  in  the  composition  tests, 
the  lists  of  spontaneously  written  words,  and  in  the 
column  and  sentence  tests  in  which  all  the  grades 
were  given  the  same  words.  Measured  by  an  abso- 
lute, or  at  least  a  uniform,  standard,  Cornman 's 
and  Rice's  results  evince  an  improvement  from  year 
to  year,  though  the  figures  do  not  indicate  that  it 
is  gradual.  Nor  do  Cornman 's  and  my  own  results 
for  graded  lists  of  words,  differing  for  each  grade, 
show  improvement  that  is  strictly  regular.  Corn- 
man  finds  his  highest  efficiencies  in  the  third  and 
fourth  grades,  while  mine  occur  in  the  fourth.  This 
may  be  due  to  the  simplicity  of  the  words  used  in 
these  grades,  or  it  may  indicate  that  we  have  at  this 
period  a  spelling  stage  in  the  child's  development, 
a  stage  in  which  his  memorv  for  word  forms  attains 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


47 


a  high  degree  of  efficiency.  If  so,  it  would  seem  that 
advantage  should  be  taken  of  this  fact  by  empha- 
sizing spelling  in  the  program  in  these  grades. 

One  point  of  interest  is  Cornman's  observation 
that  the  fifth  grade  is  a  pons  asinorum  in  the 
matter  of  spelling.  The  above  figures  showing 
the  order  of  ranking,  as  will  be  seen,  are  not  con- 
clusive upon  this  point.  Another  means  'by  which 
the  question  may  be  settled  is  to  find  the  amount 
of  irregularity  within  each  grade.  The  following  per 
cents,  indicate  the  range  between  the  best  and  the 
poorest  averages  attained  in  each  grade.  The 
grades  which  show  the  least  variation  come  first. 

Rice 's  figures : 


Column  Test. 

(Averages  for  21  Cities.) 

Per  cent. 


Sentence  Test. 

Eight  City  Averages 

I'er  cent. 


Column  Test. 

(Averages  of  Individual 

Schools.) 

I'er  cent. 


Grade     7. 
8- 
"  5  «&  6.- 
4__ 


-Range  14.7 
.     "        15.9 

19. 

37.9 


Grade  5 6.9 

"       8_ 8.8 

"       4 11.6 

"       7— -11.9 
"       6— -12.1 


Grade  8 Range  15. 

"      7_ "  22. 

"       6. "  32. 

"       5__-_     "  39.5 

"      4_ "  62. 


Sentence  Tests. 

(Individual  Schools.  ) 

Per  cent. 


Composition  Test. 

(Individual  Schools.) 

Per  cent. 


Cornman's  Term  Examination 

for  50  Schools. 

Per  cent. 


Grade  8 

14.4 

Grade  8— . 

—    .7 

"      5— 

___17.2 

"       7— . 

—  1.2 

"       7— 

—20.5 

"       6— . 

.„  1.6 

"       6 

—23. 

"       5— . 

—  1.8 

"      4 

—26.6 

"       4— . 

—  2.4 

Grade  7 Range  25.2 

"       4 "  29.4 

"       6 "  31. 

"       5 "  39.1 

"       3 "  42.3 


I  have  calculated  the  M.  V.,  which  give  a  measure 
of  irregularity  between  the  items  of  a  group,  for 
each  of  the  grades  in  my  own  tests.  The  M.  V.  is 
based  on  all  the  sections  of  a  grade  in  all  schools 


48  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

and  in  the  column  and  composition  test.  The  results 
are  as  follows :  .65  for  the  6th  grade,  1.47  for  the 
8th,  1.63  for  the  7th,  and  4.10  for  the  fifth.  In  our 
results  we  find  in  the  fifth  grade  the  largest  M.  V. ; 
also  both  the  lowest  and  highest  average  for  any 
grade  in  any  building;  the  poorest  as  well  as  the 
best  single  section  in  any  grade;  and  the  greatest 
difference  between  the  different  sections  of  the  same 
grade  in  the  same  building  or  in  any  of  the  three 
(the  corresponding  minimal  differences  being  in  the 
fourth  and  eighth  grades). 

My  own  results,  therefore,  based  upon  the  grade 
of  proficiency,  the  amount  of  irregularity,  and  the 
grade  of  efficiency  of  the  normal  or  on-time  pupils 
(see  the  following  chapter,  particularly  Table  X., 
where  the  pupils  have  been  grouped  into  slow,  fast 
and  on-time  sections),  are  in  accord  with  Cornman's 
conclusions  regarding  the  fifth  grade.  But  it  is  note- 
worthy that  this  grade  is  not  always  the  most  irreg- 
ular in  Eice's  results.  We  must  conclude,  I  believe, 
that  there  is  at  least  an  element  of  uncertainty  or 
irregularity  in  the  spelling  work  of  the  fifth  grade, 
which  requires  further  study. 

As  between  the  lower  and  upper  grades,  the  regu- 
larity is  apparently  greater  for  the  grammar  grades. 
But  there  is  danger  of  dogmatizing  on  this  point, 
because  the  records  show  various  discrepancies.  The 
eighth  grade  seems  to  possess  the  strongest  claims, 
so  far  as  concerns  the  regularity  of  the  curve  of 
efficiency.  But  even  here  our  results  are  not  in 
entire  accord  with  Rice's  or  Cornman's:  our  small- 
est variation  is  in  the  6th  grade.  However,  we  shall 
return  to  the  matter  of  the  relation  of  spelling  to  the 
grade  in  the  following  chapter  in  discussing  the  rela- 
tion of  spelling  to  age. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  RELATION  OF  SPELLING  EFFICIENCY 

TO  SEX  AND  AGE. 

I.  Spelling  in  relation  to  sex. — Girls  are  more  pro- 
ficient spellers  than  boys.  The  difference  between 
the  gross  averages  of  all  the  schools  amounts  to 
2.10%,  as  seen  in  Table  VIII.  There  are  only  two 
exceptions,  the  fourth  grade  of  school  B,  both  tests. 


Ave 

Ave.  (1),  (2). 


TABLE  III. 
GRADE  4. 
Composition  Test. 


(1) 


Age. 

Boy 

s. 

Girls. 

School. 

No. 

c 
o 

Si 

Per 
cent. 

No. 

o 

Per 
cent. 

H 

H 

B 

8 

1 

1 

97.5 

1 

0 

100.00 

9 

13 

7 

98.65 

20 

10 

98.75 

10 

12 

13 

97.29 

15 

15 

97.5 

11 

2 

0 

100.00 

4 

3 

98.12 

12 

3 

4 

96.66 

1 

4 

90.00 

Ave 

31 

98.02 

41 

96.87 

Column  Test.    (2) 


9 
10 
11 
12 


1 

13 

11 

2 

3 

30 

61 


100.00 
99.23 
98.86 

100.00 
99.16 

99.45 

98.73 


1 

21 

16 

5 

1 

44 

85 


100. 
99.28 
97.03 

100.00 
92.5 

97.96 

97.41 


50 


SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 


and  the  seventh  grade  of  school  B,  both  tests.  This 
conclusion  is  in  entire  accord  with  Rice's  and  Corn- 
man's  results:  both  found  that  the  girls  outstripped 
the  boys.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  recur  to  this 
again. 

By  comi3aring  the  various  grades  it  is  seen  that 
the  girls  surpass  the  boys  in  all  except  the  fourth 
grade,  where  the  boys  excell  by  1.32%.  As  will  be 
seen  from  the  following  figures  the  girls'  superiority 

TABLE  IV. 

GRADE  5. 
Composition  Test. 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

No. 

S 

Per 
cent. 

No. 

U 

2 

Per 
cent. 

1=) 

s 

A 

9 

2 

7 

91.25 

2 

3 

96.25 

10 

10 

67 

83.25 

13 

39 

92.50 

11 

12 

71 

85.20 

6 

24 

90.00 

12 

3 

24 

80.00 

5 

33 

83.50 

13 

3 

21 

82.50 

4 

22 

86.25 

14 

1 

6 

85.00 

2 

16 

80.00 

Ave 

31 
4 

0 

84.53 
100.00 

32 
4 

0 

88.08 

B 

9 

100.00 

10 

14 

4 

99.28 

18 

1 

99.86 

11 

17 

10 

98.52 

14 

7 

98.75 

12 

3 

3 

97.50 

6 

6 

97.50 

13 

1 

1 

97.50 

3 

1 

99.16 

14 

0 

0 



2 

0 

100.00 

Ave 

39 

20 

11 

98.56 
98.90 

47 
19 

2 

99.21 

C 

10 

99.78 

11 

10 

17 

96.60 

15 

3 

99.60 

12 

5 

3 

98.80 

2 

2 

98.00 

13 

2 

2 

98.00 

4 

5 

97.50 

14 

1 

1 

98.00 

1 

0 

100.00 

Ave. 

38 
108 

98.06 
93.71 

41 
120 

98.97 

A.  B,  C 

95.42 

IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


51 


is  most  marked  in  the  eighth  grade  and  least  marked 
in  the  fifth: 

Superiority  of  the  girls  in  the  5th  grade,  2.01% 
'Superiority  of  the  girls  in  the  6th  grade,  2.70% 
Superiority  of  the  girls  in  the  7th  grade,  2.22% 
Superiority  of  the  girls  in  the  8th  grade,  4.90%. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  these  results  are  not 
corroborated  by  Cornman's  findings.    In  his  inves- 
tigation the  girls'   superiority  over  the  boys  was 
most  striking  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  school  years, 
the  years  in  which  they  are  relatively  weakest  in 
our  tests. 

If  we  compare  the  differences  between  the  boys 
and  girls  in  single  classes  in  all  the  schools,  we  find 


Column  Test  (Table  IV.) 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

Per 

u 

o 

Per 

No. 

^ 

cent. 

No. 

u 

cent. 

A 

9 

2 

1 

98.75 

1 

0 

100.00 

10 

11 

42 

90.45 

12 

26 

94.58 

11 

12 

44 

90.83 

8 

9 

97.18 

12 

3 

17 

85.83 

5 

11 

94.50 

13 

3 

10 

91.66 

5 

14 

93.00 

14 

1 

3 

92.50 

2 

4 

95.00 

Ave 

32 
2 

0 

91.67 
100.00 

33 
4 

0 

95.71 

B 

9 

100.00 

10 

18 

8 

98.88 

17 

2 

99.70 

11 

17 

1 

99.85 

13 

2 

99.61 

12 

2 

2 

97.50 

7 

2 

99.28 

13 

0 

0 



3 

1 

99.16 

14 

0 

0 



2 

0 

100.00 

Ave 

39 

71 

179 

99.05 
95.36 
94.53 

46 

79 

199 

99.62 

A,  B 

97.66 

Ave.,  both  tests 

96.54 

52 


SPELLING    EFFICIENCY, 


the  following  to  be  the  largest  differences:  7.99%  in 
school  A,  grade  7,  composition  test;  7.37%,  in  school 
B,  grade  8,  column  test;  7.237©,  A,  8,  composition; 
6.35%,  B,  8,  composition;  and  4.14%  A,  6,  composi- 
tion test.  Uniformly  the  largest  differences  between 
the  boys  and  girls  are  in  the  upper  grades.  Con- 
trariwise the  smallest  differences,  with  one  excep- 
tion, are  in  the  lower  grades :  .65%,  school  B,  5,  com- 

TABLE  V. 
GRADE  6. 
Composition  Test, 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

Q 

Per 

Per 

No. 

K 

cent. 

No. 

K   1 

cent. 

A 

10 

5 

5 

97.50 

1 

0 

100.00 

11 

21 

45 

94.64 

20 

28 

96.50 

12 

6 

22 

90.83 

9 

9 

97.50 

13 

4 

16 

90.00 

8 

13 

95.93 

14 

2 

8 

90.00 

2 

5 

93.75 

Ave 

38 
3 

2 

92.59 
98.33 

40 
4 

1 

96.73 

B 

10 

99.37 

11 

11 

2 

99.54 

10 

7 

98.25 

12 

11 

22 

95.00 

9 

2 

99.44 

13 

11 

12 

97.27 

6 

6 

97.50 

14 

3 

3 

97.50 

2 

0 

100.00 

15 

1 

0 

100.00 

0 

0 



16 

1 

2 

95.00 

0 

0 



Ave 

41 
1 

3 

97.52 
94.00 

31 
0 

0 

98.91 

C 

10 

11 

15 

26 

96.53 

17 

26 

9'6'94 

12 

15 

24 

96.80 

12 

21 

96.50 

13 

11 

11 

98.00 

10 

6 

98.80 

14 

8 

21 

94.75 

1 

4 

92.00 

15 

2 

18 

82.00 

0 

0 



Ave. 

52 

93.68 

40 

96.06 

A,  B,  C 

131 

94.59 

111 

97.23 

IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


53 


position  test;  .57%,  B,  5  column;  and  .567c,  B,  7, 
composition.  This  indicates  that  as  the  boys  and 
girls  grow  older  the  girls  outstrip  the  boys  in 
increasing  measure.  This  is  no  doubt  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  girls  in  the  upper  ages  (up  to  sixteen 
in  these  tests)  are  physiologically  and  psychologic- 
ally more  mature  than  the  boys.  In  the  lower  ages 
the  chronological,  physiological  and  psychological 
ages  are  in  closer  correspondence.  Unfortunately 
there  are  no  data  here  to  show  whether  the  boys 
would  recover  in  the  later  adolescent  or  post- 
adolescent  years.  It  is  possible  that  as  soon  as  they 
reach  the  same  plane  of  maturity  as  the  girls  the 
differences  may  taper  off. 


Column  Test  (Table  V.) 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

CO 

Per 

o 

Per 

No. 

s 

cent. 

No. 

B 

cent. 

A 

10 

4 

2 

98.75 

1 

0 

100.00 

11 

20 

13 

98.37 

21 

12 

98.57 

12 

7 

10 

96.42 

10 

5 

98.75 

13 

4 

3 

98.12 

7 

10 

96.42 

14 

2 

9 

88.75 

2 

1 

98.75 

Ave 

37 
3 

0 

96.08 
100.00 

41 
5 

3 

98.49 

B 

10 

98.50 

11 

13 

5 

99.03 

12 

24 

95.00 

12 

10 

33 

91.75 

11 

12 

97.27 

13 

13 

32 

93.85 

5 

5 

97.50 

14 

2 

5 

93.75 

2 

2 

97.50 

15 

1 

5 

87.50 

0 

0 



16 

1 

3 

92.50 

0 

0 



Ave. 

43 
80 

94.05 
95.06 

35 
76 

97.15 

A,  B 

97.82 

Ave.,  both  tests 

211 

94.82 

187 

97.52 

54 


SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 


There  are  only  three  classes  in  which  the  boys 
excell  the  girls :  school  B,  grade  four,  both  tests ;  B, 
7,  composition  test;  and  B,  7,  column  test.  But  if 
the  sex  differences  are  studied  in  relation  to 
the  nature  of  the  tests,  an  interesting  fact  will 
appear;  namely,  that  the  superiority  of  the  girls  is 
less  striking  in  the  composition  series  than  in  the 


TABLE  VI. 

GRADE  7. 
Composition  Test. 


Age, 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

£ 

Per 

i 

Per 

No. 

2 

cent. 

No. 

cent. 

a 

H 

A 

11 

0 

0 

2 

7 

91.25 

12 

14 

48 

9T42 

16 

32 

95.00 

13 

7 

22 

92.14 

12 

36 

92.50 

14 

5 

37 

81.50 

1 

5 

87.50 

15 

2 

9 

88.75 

1 

1 

97.50 

16 

1 

4 

90.00 

0 

0 



Ave 

29 
4 

3 

84.76 
98.30 

32 

7 

6 

92.75 

B 

11 

98.05 

12 

18 

11 

98.61 

17 

10 

98.66 

13 

28 

22 

98.21 

18 

10 

98.73 

14 

9 

15 

96.21 

5 

6 

97.27 

15 

0 

0 

2 

2 

97.72 

16 

0 

0 



1 

3 

93.19 

Ave 

59 
1 

1 

97.83 
98.00 

50 
4 

7 

97.27 

C 

11 

96.50 

12 

8 

12 

97.00 

26 

13 

99.00 

13 

18 

35 

96.11 

19 

19 

98.00 

14 

8 

22 

94.50 

8 

10 

97.50 

15 

1 

3 

94.00 

4 

3 

98.50 

16 

0 

0 



3 

6 

96.00 

Ave 

36 

95.92 

64 

97.58 

A,  B,  C 

124 

92.83 

146 

95.86 

IN    RELATION    TO    AGfi,   GRADE    AND    SEX. 


00 


column  series,  with  one  exception  (seventh  grade). 
The  average  superiority  of  the  girls  in  the  column 
tests  for  all  grades,  is  3.02%,  but  for  the  composi- 
tion series  it  is  2.89%.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  differences  are  the  greatest  in  the  two  upper 
grades,  as  seen  in  the  following  tabulation : — 
Amounts  by  which  the  girls  surpass  the  boys: 


In    the    Composi- 
tion Tests. 
Per  cent. 

In     the     Column 

Tests. 

Per  cent. 

Difference. 
I'er  cent. 

Grade  5—      

1.71 
2.64 
3.03 
4.18 

2.30 
2,76 
1.41 
5.60 

.59 

"       6 

.12 

"      7 

1.62 

"       8 

1.42 

Column  Test  (Table  VI.) 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

i. 

Per 

CO 

U 
O 

Per 

No. 

cent. 

No. 

cent. 

A 

11 

1 

0 

100.00 

1 

0 

100.00 

12 

13 

16 

96.92 

16 

8 

98.75 

13 

6 

9 

96.25 

10 

11 

97.25 

14 

5 

16 

92.00 

0 

0 



15 

2 

3 

96.25 

0 

0 



16 

1 

5 

87.50 

0 

0 



Ave 

28 
3 

2 

94.82 

98.48 

27 
6 

19 
2 

98.66 

B 

11 

99.23 

12 

19 

9 

98.92 

17 

5 

99.33 

13 

27 

18 

98.48 

16 

4 

99.43 

14 

9 

14 

96.71 

4 

9 

94.88 

15 

0 

0 

1 

0 

100.00 

16 

0 

0 



1 

4 

90.90 

Ave.— 

58 

86 

210 

98.14 
96.48 
94.65 

45 

72 
218 

97.12 

A,  B - 

97.89 

Ave.,  both  tests 

96.87 

56 


SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 


Hence  it  appears  that  the  girls'  superiority  is 
mostly  on  the  side  of  verbal  memory,  or  the  mechan- 
ical phases  of  memorizing.  They  are  less  aided  by 
the  meaning  or  content;  the  thoughts  in  connected 
discourse  appear  to  suggest  the  spelling  more  with 
boys  than  with  girls.  The  results  would  seem  to 
lend  experimental  verification  to  the  oft-repeated 
dictum,  that  while  girls  surpass  boys  in  memory 
work,  the  boys  excell  the  girls  in  work  requiring 


TABLE  VII. 

GRADE  8. 
Composition  Test. 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

o 

Per 

CO 

o 

Fei- 

No. 

cent. 

No. 

1^ 

cent. 

A 

12 

1 

2 

96.00 

2 

1 

99.00 

13 

11 

32 

94.18 

5 

15 

94.00 

14 

9 

40 

9L11 

6 

11 

96.33 

15 

1 

2 

96.00 

6 

27 

91.00 

16 

2 

28 

72.00 

0 

0 



Ave 

24 
5 

13 

87.85 
93.50 

19 
6 

6 

95.08 

B 

12 

97.50 

13 

12 

10 

97.91 

16 

9 

98.59 

14 

6 

8 

96.66 

18 

31 

95.69 

15 

2 

17 

78.75 

10 

12 

97.00 

16 

1 

4 

90.00 

1 

1 

97.50 

17 

0 

0 



1 

0 

100.00 

Ave 

26 

91.36 

52 

97.71 

C 

12 

1 

0 

100.00 

3 

0 

100.00 

13 

17 

8 

99.05 

10 

2 

99.60 

14 

10 

4 

99.20 

18 

12 

98.66 

15 

11 

n 

98.00 

12 

7 

98.83 

16 

2 

1 

99.00 

2 

7 

93.00 

Ave 

41 

99.05 

45 

98.01 

A,  B,  C _- 

91 

9175 

116 

96.93 

IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


57 


judgment,  reasoning,  reflection.  This  is  particu- 
larly true,  so  far  as  these  results  indicate,  for  the 
older  boys. 

The  greater  variability  in  spelling  efficiency  which 
we  find  among  boys  is  in  harmony  with  the  fact  that 
the  psychical  variability  is  greater  for  boys  than 
for  girls.  The  Germans  have  no  name  for  girl 
prodigy,  but  they  have  "Wunderknabe"  and 
"Wunderkind."  There  are  more  geniuses  and 
prodigies  as  well  as  defectives  and  degenerates  in 
the  male  sex. 


Column  Test   (Table  VII.) 


Age. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

School. 

m 

Por 

xn 

Pel- 

No. 

cent. 

No. 

cent. 

A 

12 

1 

0 

100.00 

2 

2 

98.00 

13 

11 

30 

94.54 

5 

7 

97.50 

14 

9 

22 

95.11 

6 

9 

97.00 

15 

1 

1 

98.00 

6 

21 

93.00 

16 

2 

25 

75.00 

0 

0 



Ave 

24 
5 

11 

92.53 
94.50 

19 
5 

4 

96.37 

B 

12 

98.00 

13 

12 

18 

96.25 

15 

12 

98.00 

14 

6 

3 

98.75 

18 

21 

97.08 

15 

2 

19 

76.25 

11 

13 

97.04 

16 

1 

6 

85.00 

1 

1 

97.50 

17 

0 

0 



1 

1 

97.50 

Ave 

26 

9015 

51 

97  52 

A,  B 

50 

91.34 

70 

96.94 

Ave.,  both  tests 

141 

92.04 

186 

96.94 

No.,  total  number  of  pupils  (not  averages).  Errors, 
stated  in  totals.  Per  cent,  always  means  per  cent,  of  effi- 
ciency. A.  B.  C.  refers  to  the  three  different  schools  tested. 


58 


SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 


II.  Spelling  in  relation  to  age. — An  examination 
of  Table  IX.  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  younger 
the  child  the  greater  is  the  spelling  proficiency.  The 
falling  off  is  regular  from  grade  to  grade,  with  two 
exceptions,  the  order  being:  age  8,  9,  11,  10,  13,  12, 
14,  15  and  16  (for details  see  the  Table).  The  extreme 
variability,  between  the  9th  and  16th  years  amounts 
to  7%  (or  7.74%  if  we  include  the  8th  year  old 
pupils,  but  there  are  only  four  of  these).  The  differ- 


TABLE  VIII. 
SUMMARIES  OF  SEX  DIFFERENCES. 


Grade. 


Test. 


Boys. 


No. 


Per 
cent. 


Girls. 


No. 


Per 
cent. 


Fourth-.. 


Ave. 


Ave 


Composition. 
Column 


Fifth  

Composition— 
Colmnn 

Ave. 

Sixth 

Composition- 
Column 

Ave.— 

Seventh— 

Composition- 
Column 

Ave.— 

Eighth  — 

Composition- 
Column 

Ave.— 

for  all  grades. 


31 

30 

61 

108 
71 

179 

131 

80 

211 

124 

86 

210 

91 
50 

141 


98.02 
99.45 

98.73 

93.71 
95.36 

94.53 

94.59 
95.06 

94.82 

92.83 
96.48 

94.65 

92.75 
91.34 

92.04 

94.95 


41 
44 

85 

120 
79 

199 

111 

76 

187 

146 
72 

218 

116 

70 

186 


96.87 
97.96 

97.41 

95.42 
97.66 

96.54 

97.23 
97.82 

97.52 

95.86 
97.89 

96.87 

96.93 
96.94 

96.94 

97.05 


No.,  number  of  pupils  (always  totals), 
ciency. 


Per  rent.  =  %  of  effl- 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


59 


TABLE  IX. 


SUMMARIES  OF  AGE  DIFFERENCES. 

Age  8.  Age  9. 


Boys. 

Girls. 

*  ^  a 
c»  a)  r 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Grade. 

6 

d 

d 

6 

a,  fl 

<3^  c; 

Fourth 

2 

98.75 

2  100.00 

99.37 

26 

98.94 

41 

99.01   98.97 

Fifth 

— 



._     



10 

97.50 

11 

99.06  98.28 

Ave 

98.22 

99.03   98.62 

Age  10. 


Age  11. 


Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Ave 

23 
73 
16 

98.07 
94.15 
97.71 

96.64 

31 
79 

11 



97.26 
97.28 
99.46 

98.00 

97.66 
95.71 

98.58 

97.31 

4 

68 

80 

9 

100.00 
94.20 
97.62 
98.69 

97.63 

9 
56 

80 
20 

99.06 
97.02 
97.05 
97.00 

97.53 

99.53 
95.61 
97.33 
97.84 

97.60 

Age  12. 


Age  13. 


Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 


Ave. 


6 

97.91 

7 

91.25 

94.58 

16 

91.92 

25 

94.55 

93.23 

9 

92.41 

19 

95.01 

49 

94.16 

51 

98.29 

96.22 

43 

95.45 

36 

97.23 

72 

96.57 

92 

98.15 

97.36 

86 

96.23 

75 

97.18 

13 

96.80 

18 

98.50 

97.65 

63 

96.38 

51 

97.53 

95.47 

96.15 

95.81 

95.12 

96.74 

Age  14. 


Age  15. 


93.71 

96.34 
96.70 
96.95 


Fifth 

3 

91.83 

9 

95.00 

93.41 

Sixth 

17 

92.95 

9 

96.40 

94.67 

4 

89.83 

89.83 

Seventh 

36 

92.18 

18 

94.29 

93.23 

5 

93.00 

8 

98.43 

95.71 

Eighth 

40 

96.16 

66 

96.95 

96.55 

17 

89.40 

45 

95.37 

92.38 

Ave 

93.28 

95.66 

94.46 

i 

90.74 

96.90 

^.64 

Age  16. 

2 
2 

8 

93.75 

88.75 
84.20 

88.90 

1 

4 

¥3'36 
96.00 

94.68 

93.75 
91.05 
90.10 

91.63 

Sixth... 
Seventh. 
Eighth.. 


Ave. 


Ave.,  average  for  both  sexes. 


60  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

ences  between  the  successive  years  are  as  follows: 
.75%,  1.31%,  .29%,  1.79%,  .11%,  1.31%,  1.827o  and 
1.01%.  In  no  case  do  they  exceed  2%,  so  that  the 
variation  from  year  to  year  is  small. 

Comparing  the  efficiencies  for  the  boys  and  girls  at 
various  ages,  we  find  that  the  boys  are  inferior  for 
every  age  except  the  11th  (where  the  difference  is 
only  .11%).  This  confirms  the  conclusion  already 
reached  in  respect  to  grade  differences  between  the 
sexes.  The  amount  of  the  differences  for  the  various 
ages,  exclusive  of  the  eighth  and  eleventh,  are  as 
follows:  .81%,  1.36,  .68,  1.62,  2.38,  6.16  and  5.78%. 
Here  it  will  be  seen  that  the  maximum  variation 
between  the  sexes  is  quite  considerable,  over  6%  (in 
the  fifteenth  year).  The  differences  are  most  strik- 
ing for  the  three  higher  years,  14,  15  and  16  (the 
details  may,  again,  be  found  in  the  Table). 

The  above  figures  may,  obviously,  be  somewhat 
deceptive,  because  it  usually  happens  that  a  given 
age  spreads  through  several  grades.  For  example: 
twelve-year  old  pupils  are  found  in  all  the  grades 
from  the  fourth  to  the  eighth  inclusive,  and  the  six- 
teen-year olds  in  grades  six  to  eight,  so  prevalent 
are  the  retarded  and  accelerated  pupils.  Since  some 
of  the  pupils  are  excessively  retarded  and  some  are 
accelerated,  it  will  be  necessary,  in  order  to  obtain 
a  just  basis  of  comparison,  to  group  the  pupils  in 
each  grade  into  three  divisions:  (1)  those  who  are 
accelerated  or  under-age;  (2)  those  who  are  on  time 
or  normal;  and  (3)  those  who  are  retarded  or  over- 
age.   Such  a  grouping  appears  in  Table  X. 

It  will  be  observed  that  two  ages  are  averaged  in 
the  ''normal  age"  column.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  children  enter  the  first  year  in  the  Cleveland 
schools  both  in  September  and  February.       Those 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX. 


61 


TABLE  X. 

Classification  of  Pupils  into  Groups  According  as  They 
Are  Normal,  Accelerated  or  Retarded. 

Fourth  Grade. 


On  Time. 
(Normal  Ago.) 

Accelerated. 
(Under  Age.) 

Retarded. 
(Over  Age.) 

Age. 

Boys. 
Per 
cent. 

u  i>  a 

< 

Girls. 
Per 
cent. 

4; 

Boys. 
Per 
cent. 

Age. 

i.  0)  a 

Comp 

Column— 

9  &  10  97.97  98.12 
9  &  10  99.04  98.15 

8'  97.5    100.00 
8100.00100.00 

11  &  12 
11&12 

98.33ill  &  12 
99.58  11  &  12 

98.95 

94.06 
96.25 

Ave — 

98.50  98.13 

98.75 

100.00 

95.15 

Fifth  Grade. 


Comp 

Column.- 


10  .fell 
lO&ll 


Ave 94.31,97.24 


93.62  96.72 
95.0097.77 


95.62 
97.37 


98.12 
100.00 


97.49   99.06 


12, 13  &  14  92.16 
12, 13  &  14  91.87 

(92.01 


93.54 
96.82 

95.18 


Sixth  Grade. 


Comp 

Column.- 

Ave... 


11  &  12  95.55  97.221 10 
11  &  12  96.39  97.39  10 


95.97197.45 


96.61 
99.37 


99.68 
99.25 


97.99   99.46 


13-16 
13-16 


93.8313  &  14,96.33 
92.41 13  &  14  97.54 


93.12 


96.93 


Seventh  Grade. 


Comp 

Column.  _ 


12  &  13  95.58i96.98 
12  &  13  97.64  98.69 


Ave I96.6ll97.83 


98.15 
99.24 


95.26 
99.611 


14-16 
14-16 


190.82;  14-16   95.64 
,93.11    14-16   95.26 


98.69  97.431 


91.961 


195.45 


Eighth  Grade. 

Comp 

Column.. 

13&14 
13i&14 

96.35  97.14 
96.16  97.39 

12 
12 

96.50 
97.25 

96.87 

97.95 

98.50 
98.00 

98.25 

98.84 

1^16 
15-16 

88.96 
83.56 

86.26 

92.46 

15-17 
15-17 

96.06 
96.00 

Ave... 

96.25  97.26 

96.03 

Gen.  Ave. 

96.32  97.58 

95.74 

96.95 


98.39 


94.10 


Comp.,  composition  tests.      Column,  column  tests. 


C2  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

who  are  not  six  in  September  must  wait  till  Febru- 
ary. Accordingly  two  ages  represent  the  normal 
throughout  the  course.  The  table  reveals  a  number 
of  significant  facts. 

An  examination  of  the  on-time  column  shows  not 
only  that  the  spelling  efficiency  is  remarkably  con- 
stant, but  that  the  apparent  decline  of  efficiency 
from  grade  to  grade,  to  which  we  directed  attention 
above,  is  due  to  averaging  the  results  of  pupils  of 
different  ages  in  the  same  grade.  This  practice  is 
questionable  because  the  holdovers,  who  are  lag- 
gards, will  outnumber  the  accelerated  or  over-bright, 
and  thus  tend  to  distort  the  normal  curve  by  pro- 
ducing a  fall  with  increase  of  grade.  As  will  be  seen 
in  a  moment,  the  variability  for  the  laggards  is  also 
greater.  The  typical  results,  therefore,  must  be 
based  upon  the  normal  children;  that  is,  those  who 
keep  up  with  the  normal  procession,  who  arrive  on 
time.  When  the  on-time  jjupils  are  considered  sep- 
arately it  is  seen  from  the  table  that  the  spelling 
proficiency  tends  to  increase  rather  than  decrease 
from  grade  to  grade  (the  two  exceptions  are  the 
fourth  and  eighth  grades). 

When  the  proficiencies  of  the  normal  pupils  are 
compared  with  the  accelerated  (under-age),  it  is 
seen  that  the  latter  spell  better  than  the  former  in 
every  grade  (the  girls  of  the  seventh  grade  ex- 
cepted). The  difference  between  the  general  aver- 
ages for  all  grades  is  1.44%,  while  the  largest  dif- 
ference is  3.18%,  for  the  boys  in  the  fifth  grade.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  over-age  pupils  are  inferior  to 
the  normal  all  along  for  both  boys  and  girls  except 
for  the  boys  in  grade  four.  Here  the  difference  be- 
tween the  general  averages    is    larger,  2.85%,  the 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  63 

largest  difference  being  about  10%  (boys  of  grade 
eight).  That  is,  the  variation  of  the  retarded  pupils 
from  the  normal  efficiency  is  greater  than  the  varia- 
tion of  the  accelerated.  The  over-age  pupils  are 
more  pronouncedly  inferior  to  the  ontime  or  typical 
child  than  the  accelerated  or  under-age  is  superior.^ 
The  possible  range  downward  is  greater  than  the 
range  upward.  The  difference  between  the  aver- 
ages for  the  accelerated  and  retarded  amounts  to  as 
much  as  4.29%. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  differences  are  again  more 
pronounced  for  the  boys  than  for  the  girls.  For 
the  boys  the  variation  between  the  on-time  and 
under-age  amounts  to  1.63%),  and  between  the  on- 
time  and  over-age,  3.86%;  while  the  correspond- 
ing differences  for  the  girls  are  1.26  and  1.84%. 
This  sustains  the  conclusion  already  reached.  In 
spelling  girls  appear  clearly  to  excel,  but  to  a  less 
degree  in  composition  spelling  than  column  spell- 
ing. 

Similar  results  have  been  obtained  by  Eice.  His 
data  are  based  upon  a  study  of  the  elementary 
grades  of  a  few  schools.  He  divided  the  pupils  in 
each  grade  into  two  groups,  the  younger  and  the 
older.  His  groups  maj^  correspond  to  our  acceler- 
ated, and  retarded.  He  had  no  normal  group.  His 
results  showed  that  the  younger  (under-age)  pupils 
spelled  better  in  all  grades  (four  exceptions  each 
in  the  column  and  composition  tests),  the  differences 
varying  all  the  way  from  about  .5%  to  11%.  By 
classifying  the  pupils  into  four  groups  according 
to  their  general  intelligence  or  brightness,  it  ap- 


*This  would  probably  not  be  true   if  the  typical  children   had 
not  been  brought  to  a  high  degree  of  efficiency. 


64  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

peared  tliat  practically  all  the  groups  jof  bright 
pupils  averaged  higher  than  the  other  groups,  the 
differences  usually  being  quite  striking.  A  high  or 
low  class  proficiency  in  spelling  may  therefore 
sometimes  be  explained  by  tlie  fact  that  the  class 
contains  numerous  bright  or  dull  pupils.  To  rightly 
estimate  a  teacher's  ability  to  instruct  and  train, 
supervisors  should  accordingly  base  their  judgment 
upon  the  proficiencies  displayed  by  the  on-time 
group  of  children.  Perhaps  no  better  criterion  by 
which  to  judge  a  teacher's  efficiency  can  be  found 
than  the  relative  progress  made  by  the  normal  or 
typical  pupils  in  her  class,  as  compared  with  a  simi- 
lar group  in  other  classes. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DOES  SPELLING  EFFICIENCY  ACQUIRED  IN 

COLUMN  DRILLS  TRANSFER  TO 

DICTATED  COMPOSITIONS? 

(The  Doctrine  of  Formal  Discipline.) 

It  was  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  light 
upon  this  question  that  the  present  investigation 
was  undertaken  under  the  test  conditions  which 
have  already  been  described  (see  Chapter  I).  The 
data  obtained  furnishes  conclusive  evidence  in  favor 
of  an  affirmative  answer.  An  analysis  of  Tables  I. 
and  II.  will  reveal  a  number  of  important  facts. 

Taking  the  gross  results  for  all  schools  as  a  basis 
of  comparison,  it  is  seen  that  the  difference  between 
the  column  and  composition  tests  amounts  to  only 
1.44%.  That  is  to  say,  the  average  loss  of  effi- 
ciency through  transfer  is  so  slight  as  to  be  almost 
negligible. 

By  comparing  the  results  of  the  two  tests  for  the 
various  grades  separately,  we  find  the  transfer  losses 
to  be  the  following:  .47%  for  the  eighth  grade; 
.93%,  sixth  grade;  1.26%,  fourth  grade;  2.25%,  sev- 
enth grade;  and  2.29%,  fifth  grade  (see  Table  II.). 
The  smallest  losses  come  in  the  eighth  and  sixth 
grades,  and  the  largest  in  the  seventh  and  fifth. 
In  the  eighth  the  loss  is  less  than  one-half  of  one 
per  cent.;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  variation 
between  the  smallest  and  largest  losses  is  only  1.87%. 

66 


66  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

Taking  the  individual  sections  as  a  basis  of  com- 
parison, it  is  found  that  in  only  five  instances  do 
the  transfer  losses  exceed  3% :  6.81%  (5a,  A) ;  6.08% 
(7a,  A) ;  5.21%  {5b,  A) ;  3.66%  {6b,  A) ;  and  3.09% 
(6,  all  sections,  C).  It  will  be  observed  that  all  of 
these  losses,  except  one,  are  in  the  same  school.  In 
all  other  instances  in  which  there  are  any  losses  the 
falling  off  is  not  very  material — in  seven  instances 
less  than  1%  (.70%,  .14%,  .58%,  .70%,  .06%,  .33%, 
.39%.) 

Not  only,  however,  is  the  transfer  loss  ordinarily 
small,  but  it  is  by  no  means  an  invariable  phenome- 
non. There  are  five  instances  in  which  there  is  a 
positive  result,  an  actual  transfer  gain.  These 
gains  amounted  to  .01%  (8a,  B),  .03%  {5b,  B),  .11% 
(7c,  B),  .45%  (6a,  B),  and  4.47%  {Qb,  5)— all  in 
one  school.  Here  we  have  instances  of  a  degree  of 
spelling  efficiency  in  novel  or  unpractised  situations 
which  absolutely  surpasses  the  efficiency  shown  in 
the  familiar,  practised  situations — a  result  which  is 
analogous  to  the  findings  of  Fracker  in  a  memory 
experiment  (7).  He  tested  before  training  the 
subjects'  ability  to  memorize  poetry,  the  extent  of 
arm  movements,  and  the  order  in  which  various 
greys,  tones,  geometrical  figures  and  numbers  were 
presented.  Then  the  subjects  practised  memoriz- 
ing the  order  of  four  tones  for  some  time,  where- 
upon they  were  again  tested  with  the  other  ma- 
terials which  had  received  no  practice.  In  some 
cases  the  improvement  in  the  unpractised  or  test 
series  was  absolutely  greater  than  in  the  training 
series. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  column  drills  in 
spelling  may  produce  a  positive  increment  of  spell- 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  67 

ing  efficiency  in  dictated  compositions  or  connected 
writing.  This  fact  is  significant,  in  view  of  the 
attacks  that  have  been  directed  against  the  spelling 
drill  for  many  years.  The  advocate  of  the  drill  was 
prepared  to  find  some  loss  through  transfer,  but  he 
had  scarcely  ventured  to  look  for  a  positive  gain 
when  the  scoring  was  based  upon  the  same  words. 
A  slight  transfer  loss  could  be  ascribed  entirely  to 
the  increased  complications  involved  in  writing  dic- 
tated compositions  as  against  writing  word  lists, 
because  in  the  compositions  the  pupil  would  have 
many  other  words  to  spell ;  he  would  have  to  divide 
his  attention  more  or  less  between  the  content 
(sense)  and  form,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  aid 
the  memory;  he  would  have  to  carry  whole  phrases 
in  mind  instead  of  single  words;  he  would  have  to 
make  many  writing  movements  instead  of  few; 
give  some  attention  to  punctuation,  capitalization, 
indentation,  etc.,  unless  indeed  these  matters  had 
already  been  reduced  to  automatic  control ;  he  would 
have  to  apprehend  the  words  in  new  relations,  among 
new  associates,  instead  of  in  an  artificial  sequence 
of  isolated  and  unrelated  words.  In  view  of  the  mul- 
tiplication of  work  involved  in  the  dictated  compo- 
sition test  the  losses  were  so  immaterial  (in  no  case 
as  much  as  7%)  that  they  cannot  be  used  as  an  ar- 
gument against  learning  spelling  in  habit-forming 
drills.  The  spelling  proficiency  developed  in  a  drill 
situation  does  transfer  to  a  dictation  or  composition 
situation.  It  is  not  true  that  words  learned  in  a 
certain  column  sequence  will  be  spelled  correctly 
only  when  they  recur  in  that  sequence.  They  are 
spelled  nearly  as  well  when  they  come  with  new  and 
rational  associates  in  connected  writing;  and  some- 


68  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

times  better.  However  fundamental  the  law  of  as- 
sociation, the  principle  of  dissociation  is  also  oper- 
ative. While  the  mere  repetition  of  word  lists  tends 
to  form  associations  between  words  which  have  no 
bond  save  that  of  arbitrary  sequence  to  link  them 
together,  in  consequence  of  which  the  correct  spell- 
ing of  one  word  will  tend  to  call  up  the  correct  spell- 
ing of  other  words  if  they  occur  in  the  given  series, 
yet  the  mind  abstracts,  analyzes  and  dissociates  at 
the  same  time,  so  that  when  the  words  occur  in  dif- 
ferent combinations  they  may  still  be  handled  with 
equal  or  nearly  equal  proficiency  and  sometimes  with 
increased  proficiency.  That  there  should  be  an  ac- 
tual increase  of  proficiency  is,  after  all,  not  so  sur- 
prising, because  when  the  words  occur  in  meaning- 
ful sequences  a  new  associate  is  added  to  further 
the  process  of  recall,  namely  the  element  of  mean- 
ing. The  meaning  content  will  tend  to  suggest  the 
spelling  form,  because  the  form  is  often  deliberately 
associated  with  the  meaning,  so  that  when  the  mean- 
ing is  supplied  by  phrases  and  sentences  the  spelling 
will  follow  as  the  "associated"  term  of  the  process. 
The  meaning  of  the  sentence  will,  therefore,  supply 
the  meaning  of  a  given  word,  and  this  in  turn  will 
revive  its  proper  spelling. 

The  objection  may  be  forthcoming  that  these 
striking  transfer  results  are  due  to  a  happy  cir- 
cumstance in  the  test  conditions :  viz.,  the  fact  that 
only  a  few  months  at  the  utmost  had  elapsed  be- 
tween the  special  study  of  the  words  and  the  giv- 
ing of  the  tests.  Obviously  if  the  tests  had  been 
given  after  a  lapse  of  several  years  the  proficiency 
might  very  well  have  been  less — especially  if  the  lists 
contained  numerous  words  of  infrequent  use.    The 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  69 

objection  is  of  no  material  consequence,  however ;  for 
no  matter  how  large  the  falling  otf  in  proficiency,  it 
would  have  pertained  to  both  series.  The  efficiency 
would  have  been  lessened  in  both  column  and  com- 
position work.  There  is  no  warrant  for  assuming 
that  the  spelling  would  have  deteriorated  in  con- 
nected writing  only;  i.  e.,  that  the  transfer  loss 
would  have  been  exaggerated.  Assuming  the  cor- 
rectness of  these  premises,  we  may  say,  then,  that 
no  matter  what  the  extent  of  the  loss  through  lapse 
of  time,  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  transfer  loss. 
Consequently  the  objection  simply  reduces  to  this: 
after  the  lapse  of  a  year  or  more  the  ability  to  spell 
neglected,  difficult  or  unusual  words  is  lessened. 
When  stated  in  this  form,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ob- 
jection has  already  been  met  (p.  42) :  while  a  skill- 
ful spelling  drill  is  not  an  unfailing  cureall  for  the 
forgetfulness  of  word  forms,  it  does  insure  a  meas- 
ure of  habituation  or  organized  stability  that  can- 
not be  reached  by  teaching  spelling  in  a  merely  inci- 
dental way  (which  in  many  cases  means  perfunc- 
tory). 

It  is  pertinent  to  restate  that  the  spelling  drill 
in  use  in  Cleveland  involves  a  certain  amount  of 
dictation  work  as  a  regular  feature,  so  that  the 
pupils  were  familiar  with  the  demand  that  the  words 
focalized  in  the  drill  proper  be  spelled  correctly  in 
connected  discourse;  and  that  an  insistence  upon 
teaching  spelling  in  drills  does  not  necessitate  the 
supplanting  or  elimination  of  the  incidental  method. 
The  two  methods  are  not  antithetical  or  mutually 
exclusive,  but  supplementary.  A  drill  that  bars  the 
correlation  of  spelling  teaching  with  the  written 
work  of  the  schools  stands  self-condemned.     This  is 


70  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

not  because  spelling  efficiency  cannot  be  attained  by 
such  a  drill,  but  because  it  would  test  knowledge 
merely  by  the  method  of  formal  reproduction,  in- 
stead of  the  more  vital  method  of  use  or  application. 
It  would  devitalize  the  process,  unless  extrinsic  in- 
centives were  added  to  infuse  energy  into  the  tech- 
nique. Learning  becomes  most  natural  and  eco- 
nomical when  it  is  motivated  by  a  need  that  arises 
out  of  the  pupil's  own  experience.  Such  a  need  is 
intrinsic  and  dynamic,  instead  of  extrinsic  and  aca- 
demic. To  experience  a  need  the  pupil  must  first 
be  made  to  feel  privation  or  want.  It  is  the  lack 
of  a  contemplated  good  that  stimulates  the  desire 
for  it.  The  feeling  of  want,  desire,  need,  can  best 
be  aroused  in  the  pupil  by  confronting  him  with  nat- 
ural situations  or  problems,  i.  e.,  problems  which 
arise  in  the  course  of  his  regular  occupations,  plays, 
or  studies.  When  the  child  has  a  composition,  or 
letter,  or  theme,  or  a  narrative  of  his  day's  exploits 
to  write,  the  problem  of  spelling  becomes  a  matter  of 
vital  concern  to  him.  When  the  child,  in  addition, 
has  become  imbued  with  the  idea  of  writing  a  note 
to  some  one  in  particular  whom  he  regards,  to  one 
of  his  comrades,  or  to  his  mother,  or  to  his  teacher, 
the  need  becomes  still  more  closely  identified  with 
his  own  personal  wants  and  desires.  Lack  of  con- 
trol in  such  a  case  reinvigorates  the  felt  motivation. 
By  supplying  real  x)roblems  to  create  a  breakdown 
in  the  child's  experience,  because  he  has  failed  to 
master  certain  instruments,  forms,  symbols  or  con- 
tents, we  take  tlie  most  important  step  toward  tlieir 
acquisition  or  mastery.  It  is  a  basic  psychological 
demand  that  the  introduction  and  establishment  of 
technique  should  be  motivated  by  an  internal  im- 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  71 

pulse  originating  from  the  child's  own  feeling  of  a 
lack  of  facility  in  dealing  with  his  varied  active  ex- 
periences and  constructive  work.  But  while  the  form 
work  must  thus  be  vitalized  by  intrinsic  and  in- 
ternal needs,  nothing  can  bring  it  to  a  state  of  facile 
control  except  focalized  reiteration. 

The  assumed  antithesis  between  the  drill  and  inci- 
dental methods  of  teaching  spelling  should  resolve 
itself  therefore  into  a  difference  in  the  iDlacing  of 
emphasis.  The  advocate  of  the  drill  is  inclined  to 
attach  paramount  importance  to  the  drill.  He  does 
not  thereby  abjure  or  discard  the  incidental  method. 
He  regards  it  as  an  indispensable  auxiliary,  a  vital- 
izing supplement,  which  adds  variety  to  the  drill, 
which  tests  knowledge  by  the  most  reliable  method, 
its  application  in  concrete  and  real  situations,  and 
which  thus  directly  indicates  to  the  child  the  great 
utility  of  spelling  as  an  instrument  of  social  control. 
The  supporter  of  the  drill  no  more  demands  the 
elimination  of  the  incidental  method  than  he  rejects 
the  method  of  testing  acquisition  by  its  results  and 
its  practical  employment.  The  incidentalist,  on  the 
other  hand,  places  the  emphasis  on  the  incidental 
method.  In  fact,  it  is  probably  correct  to  say  that 
the  incidentalist  is  the  more  radical  of  the  two,  for 
often  he  does  not  stop  with  the  subordination  of  the 
drill,  but  demands  its  complete  abolition.  He  can 
apprehend  no  virtue  in  anything  that  smacks  of  the 
formal,  or  methodical,  or  rigid.  Spontaneity  and 
initiative  loom  so  large  above  his  mental  horizon 
that  he  cannot  apprehend  the  necessity  of  a  rigid 
treatment  of  the  hidden,  underlying  routine  elements, 
the  facile  control  of  which  makes  spontaneity  really 
efficacious.    We  believe  that  the  facts  and  arguments 


72  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

presented  in  these  pages  show  unequivocally  that  the 
position  of  the  extreme  incidentalist  is  untenable, 
and  that  the  complete  proscription  of  the  drill  is 
based  largely  on  purely  theoretical  and  sentimental 
grounds  (some  of  the  main  objections  were  consid- 
ered in  Chapter  I.). 

Having  established  the  fact  of  transfer,  what  ac- 
count can  be  offered  in  explanation?  Transfer  of 
acquired  capacities  or  i^owers  in  general  forces  us 
to  assume  that  mental  traits  are  not  specialized  to 
an  absolute  extent,  or  else  that,  though  specialized, 
they  contain  common  elements.  These  common  ele- 
ments are  both  physiological  and  psychological.  On 
the  physiological  side,  we  find  that  our  psychical 
activities  are  functionally  connected  with  certain 
definite  cortical  areas.  Particular  cortical  cells  are 
related  to  highly  differentiated  capacities,  so  that 
we  may  have  a  good  memory  for  dates  or  faces, 
but  not  for  days,  or  principles,  or  classifications; 
or  we  may  have  a  good  memory  for  words  seen,  but 
not  words  heard  or  written.  It  would,  therefore, 
seem  that  we  have  an  innumerable  number  of  par- 
ticular traits,  but  few  general  powers.  However 
correct  this  account  may  be,  there  is  no  evidence  that 
the  localization  is  absolute,  so  that  we  have  a  dis- 
tinct area  or  neurone  for  every  pitch,  or  every  ad- 
jective, or  every  odor.  Nor  is  there  any  evidence 
that  the  areas  are  discrete,  independent,  unrelated, 
like  water  tight  compartments,  or  like  the  isolated 
faculties  or  organs  of  the  faculty  psychology  or  the 
phrenologist.  It  is  highly  probable  that  not  only 
are  there  common  elements  in  the  various  differen- 
tiated areas,  but  that  there  is  an  interconnection, 
intercommunication,   and   interdependence  between 


IN    RELATION   TO   AGE,   GRADE    AND   SEX.  73 

them.  Neural  life  is  an  integrated  solidarity.  It 
would  appear,  therefore,  that  modifications  produced 
in  a  given  area  will  not  only  spread  to  common  ele- 
ments within  that  area  but  to  the  neighboring  re- 
gions. If  we  assume  that  there  may  be  an  over- 
lapping of  some  of  the  areas,  we  need  not  even  re- 
sort to  a  theory  of  spreading,  for  the  overlapping 
areas  (overlapping  in  function)  would  be  jointly 
exercised.  It  is  also  possible  that  there  may  be 
certain  regions  of  the  nature  of  transfer  points — 
say,  certain  association  areas — from  which  the  ef- 
fects irradiate.  Hence  if  we  accept  as  correct  the 
assumption  that  our  capacities  are  far  more  special- 
ized than  generalized,  still  all  training  must  general- 
ize more  or  less  since  the  neural  substrate  con- 
sists of  a  network  so  closely  interwoven  as  to  make 
presumptively  probable  that  the  cortex  will  act  more 
or  less  as  a  unity.  In  fact  so  closely  connected  are 
the  neural  elements  that  the  entire  nervous  system  is 
an  integrated  unity,  and  acts  largely  as  such.  That 
this  is  so  is  evidenced  by  the  phenomena  of  reflex 
neuroses  and  the  restitution  of  mental  functions.  A 
diseased  organ  or  pain  in  a  nerve  will  often  reflect 
its  disorder  through  the  sensory  and  motor  neurones 
to  some  other  part  of  the  body.  Unequal  visual 
acuity  of  the  two  eyes  or  eye  strain  will  often  mani- 
fest itself  in  the  form  of  a  headache;  or  of  gastric 
trouble,  choreic  symptoms,  muscular  twitching,  epi- 
leptiform convulsions,  torticollis,  spinal  curvature, 
paralysis,  insanity,  etc. ;  indigestion  will  often  mani- 
fest itself  in  the  form  of  nervousness  or  forgetful- 
ness,  and  even  flatfootedness  will  excite  neuroses  in 
distant  portions  of  the  body.  The  facts  of  vicarious 
functioning  are  equally  well  known.    When  certain 


74  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

cortical  areas  have  been  extirpated  other  areas  will 
often  gradually  assume  the  functions  temporarily 
abrogated.  Cortical  areas  accordingly  are  not  like 
the  segregated  islands  of  the  ocean,  but  like  the  in- 
terconnecting straits. 

On  the  psychical  side,  the  tendency  of  training  to 
generalize  or  transfer  rests  upon  three  possibilities. 
First,  that  there  is  an  identity  of  substance  or  con- 
tent in  the  two  situations  (the  practised  and  unprac- 
tised). Thus  the  knowledge  contents  that  have  been 
acquired  in  drills  on  the  mathematical  tables  and 
processes  recur  in  physics  or  chemistry  or  quanti- 
tative experimental  psychology.  The  power  devel- 
oped in  mathematical  study  will,  accordingly,  trans- 
fer to  these  branches,  because  the  substance  is  identi- 
cal. Second,  an  identity  of  method  or  procedure 
(Thorndike).  There  are  the  same  elements  of  method 
in  experimental  work  in  chemistry  as  in  biology, 
physics,  or  psychology,  hence  the  mastery  of  method 
in  one  experimental  branch  will  transfer  more  or 
less  to  another.  The  same  holds  good  in  the  case  of 
language  method.  Third,  there  may  be  an  identity 
of  ideal  or  aim  (Ruediger).  When  the  child  is  made 
to  focus  attention  upon  neatness,  industry  and  hon- 
esty, so  that  they  are  made  conscious  ideals,  these 
virtues  will  generalize. 

In  these  various  ways  do  we  find  it  possible  to 
explain  how  the  development  of  specific  powers  will 
insure  a  certain  measure  of  general  training  or  trans- 
fer. Now,  obviouslj'',  so  far  as  spelling  is  concerned 
we  have  a  perfectly  clear  instance  of  identity  of  sub- 
stance. The  words  that  occur  in  drills  are  the  same 
ones  that  occur  in  written  discourse.  There  is  only 
a  difference  of  setting  or  of  situation.    To  a  certain 


IX    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  75 

extent  the  method  is  identical  also;  for  while  the 
incidental  method  is  not  based  upon  the  thorough- 
going repetition  involved  in  the  drill,  yet  in  both 
methods  the  forms  must  be  more  or  less  focalized 
in  order  to  enter  consciousness,  and  in  both  cases 
they  receive  more  or  less  repeated  attention.  Iden- 
tity of  aim  can  likewise  be  insured  by  consciously 
directing  the  child's  attention  in  the  spelling  drill 
to  the  fact  that  the  aim  of  the  drill  is  the  production 
of  spelling  accuracy  in  all  written  work.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  this  element  is  also  stressed  when  the 
drill  includes  dictation  or  writing  in  sentences.  That 
the  same  cerebral  areas  are  operative  in  drill  work 
as  in  incidental  spelling,  is  an  incontestable  conclu- 
sion, I  believe.  In  the  light  of  these  considerations 
it  would  indeed  be  surprising  if  the  spelling  effi- 
ciency engendered  in  column  drills  did  not  directly 
transfer  to  connected  writing. 

There  is  a  point  of  practical  consequence  that 
should  not  be  overlooked.  Since  it  is  not  contended 
that  spelling  drills  produce  a  universal  generalized 
spelling  proficiency  which  will  spread  to  all  words, 
whether  they  have  been  studied  or  not  (nothing  be- 
yond an  increased  facility  to  master  new  forms  need 
be  assumed;  in  fact  such  increased  facility  for  doing 
other  lines  of  work  is  well  attested  by  experiment) ; 
and  since  it  has  been  shown  that  the  ability  developed 
in  drills  will  at  least  transfer  to  situations  of  a  dif- 
ferent nature,  when  the  elements  are  similar  or  iden- 
tical ;  it  follows  that  the  materials  of  the  drills  should 
consist  of  those  words  which  are  most  likely  to  be 
used  in  the  actual  workaday  experiences  of  the  child 
and  the  average  adult.  There  is  slight  justification 
for  formal  spelling  drills  on  very  unusual  or  hard 


76  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

words  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  exercise  or  for 
the  sake  of  developing  a  knack  or  skill  for  learning 
words.  Contents  that  have  intrinsic  value,  when 
properly  taught,  have  just  as  good  formal  or  train- 
ing value  as  contents  of  no  intrinsic  value  whatso- 
ever. The  formal  value  of  a  content  is  quite  inde- 
pendent of  whether  or  not  it  has  intrinsic  value ;  the 
formal  value  depends  on  method  and  motivation. 
The  practical  problem  then  becomes  one  of  a  judici- 
ous choice  of  words ;  and  this  is  a  problem  which  is 
extremely  hard  to  solve.  What  words  are  worth 
while!  \Vliich  will  have  a  genuine  value  in  the  child's 
later  experiences  ?  AVhat  words  have  such  a  practical 
value  that  they  should  be  learned  by  all  I  It  is 
doubtful  whether  this  question  will  admit  of  an  en- 
tirely satisfactory  solution  because  of  the  highly 
specialized  nature  of  the  modern  professional  and 
occupational  environment  into  which  the  child  must 
be  fitted.  Here,  if  anywhere,  ''what  is  food  to  one 
is  poison  to  another. ' '  A  list  of  words  which  would 
excellently  qualify  a  boy  for  efficient  dictation  work 
in  a  railway  office  would  be  of  slight  service  in  a 
physician's  office.  Nevertheless  there  are  those  who 
believe  a  minimum  list  of  words  can  be  made  out 
whose  spelling  should  be  thoroughly  mastered  by 
every  grammar  school  graduate  (Chancellor  pro- 
poses a  list  of  1000  of  such  words :  4). 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  SPELLING  DRILL  IN  VOGUE  IN  CLEVE- 
LAND AS  VIEWED   BY  PRINCIPALS 
AND  TEACHERS  IN  THE  ELE- 
MENTARY SCHOOLS. 

In  order  to  obtain  the  opinions  of  principals  and 
teachers  in  the  Cleveland  elementary  schools  re- 
specting the  satisfactoriness  of  the  spelling  method 
now  in  use,  a  questionnaire  was  addressed  to  the 
principals.  The  questionnaire  asked  for  specific 
answers  to  a  series  of  specific  questions,  twelve  in 
number.  Care  was  taken  to  emphasize  the  fact  that 
"what  is  wanted  in  all  cases  is  a  frank,  unbiased  ex- 
pression of  opinion,"  and  the  assurance  was  also 
given  that  the  answers  would  be  considered  confi- 
dential. From  the  limited  number  of  replies  received 
it  appears  that  many  of  the  principals  could  not 
bring  themselves  to  see  that  the  writer's  interest 
in  the  enquiry  was  purely  scientific  and  that  there 
was  no  ulterior  motive. 

The  circular  was  answered  by  sixteen  principals 
and  eight  classroom  teachers.  The  principals  con- 
sulted with  a  considerable  number  of  classroom 
teachers  of  spelling,  so  that  the  replies  represent  a 
larger  census  than  sometimes  appears  from  the  tab- 
ulation. The  teaching  and  supervising  experience 
of  the  principals  varied  from  thirteen  to  forty-two 
years,  and  the  eight  teachers  directly  reporting  to 

77 


78  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 

me  had  taught  from  three  to  nineteen  years,  the 
majority  over  fourteen  years. 

Nine  of  the  respondents  had  never  taught  spelling 
by  the  incidental  method.  Fourteen  had  used  this 
method,  but  never  exclusively,  and  a  number  of  the 
teachers  interviewed  had  employed  the  method  more 
or  less.  Eespecting  the  value  of  this  method  of 
teaching  spelling,  the  opinions  varied.  Only  two 
seemed  to  favor  it  as  the  sole  method.  Seventeen 
regarded  it  as  a  satisfactory  method  when  combined 
with  the  special  study  of  spelling.  The  virtues  found 
in  the  incidental  method  were  the  following :  it  sup- 
plies the  child  with  a  rich  and  varied  vocabulary  of 
commonly  used  and  comprehensible  words  (men- 
tioned four  times) ;  the  context  supplies  a  meaning 
to  the  words  learned,  and  this  aids  the  memorizing 
of  the  spelling  (mentioned  twice) ;  the  words  fre- 
quently recur,  and  thus  drill  is  provided  (once) ;  it 
is  the  most  natural  method  of  spelling,  as  words  are 
spelled  in  connection  with  other  words  and  in  con- 
nection with  manuscript  writing,  and  this  increases 
the  ability  to  use  words  correctly,  i.  e.,  to  use  them 
in  the  only  way  in  which  they  must  be  spelled  in 
later  life  (thirteen  times  ^) ;  it  improves  manuscript 
spelling  (three  times).  Some  did  not  regard  the 
incidental  method  as  satisfactory,  on  the  ground  that 
it  is  not  thorough  (mentioned  three  times),  or  it 
is  slipshod  and  unmethodical  (two  times),  or  it  cul- 
tivates a  lack  of  responsibility  (once),  or  it  does 
not  encourage  intensive  study  (once),  or  it  takes 
time  from  the  regular  subject  taught  (three  times), 
or  it  gives  a  spelling  mastery  over  a  range  of  words 
that  is  too  limited  (three  times). 

*  These  figures  refer  to  the  number  of  mentions. 


IN    RELATION   TO   AGE,   GKADE   AND   SEX.  79 

All  the  respondents,  as  well  as  all  the  teachers  in- 
terviewed by  the  principals,  are  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  present  spelling  method  in  use  in  the  Cleve- 
land schools,  as  they  have  followed  it  since  it  was 
introduced.  Sixty-one  of  these  approved  of  the 
method,  while  eighteen  favored  it  to  a  certain  extent, 
or  subject  to  certain  modifications.  We  may  first 
consider  the  defects  of  the  method,  or  the  objections 
urged  against  it.  The  most  frequent  objections  re- 
lated to  the  contests  and  the  character  of  the  words. 
The  contests  are  too  numerous  (mentioned  four 
times;  they  produce  too  much  unrest  (three  times), 
or  nerve  strain  (eleven  times),  especially  during  the 
contests  (five  times) ;  they  subject  the  schools  to 
unfair  comparisons,  because  of  the  difference  in 
conditions  in  the  different  districts,  especially  with 
respect  to  the  presence  of  newly  arrived  immigrants 
(three  times) ;  and  they  create  the  temptation  on 
the  part  of  overzealous  teachers  to  devote  more  than 
the  statutory  time  to  spelling,  and  thus  slight  other 
branches  (twelve  times),  especially  in  preparing 
the  long  list  of  words  for  the  oral  contests.  The 
objections  against  the  words  were  that  they  are 
too  difficult,  especially  for  the  primary  grades  (three 
times),  or  for  the  children  in  foreign  districts  (ten 
times) ;  or  that  there  should  be  more  than  two  domi- 
nant words  (once),  one  preferring  five  each  day, 
while  one  preferred  more  dominant  words  and  less 
review  or  subordinate  words.  Four  held  that  the 
general  spelling  was  not  improved;  and  two,  that 
there  is  insufficient  correlation  with  the  daily  written 
work.  One  found  fault  with  the  presence  of  watch- 
ers, and  one  with  the  necessity  of  learning  the  short 
sounds  of  vowels. 


80  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

The  merits  of  the  method  were  more  strikingly- 
emphasized.  Its  drill  features  were  most  frequently 
commended  (mentioned  seventy  times).  The  char- 
acteristics of  the  drill  most  often  emphasized  were : 
the  intensive  study  or  drill  of  two  dominant  words 
each  day  (mentioned  thirty  times) ;  drill  in  written 
work,  and  the  writing  of  the  dominant  words  in 
sentences,  which  develops  care  in  spelling  words  cor- 
rectly in  connected  writing  (nine  times) ;  the  con- 
stant reviews,  daily,  term  and  annual  (four  times) ; 
oral  drills,  which  aid  the  ear-minded  children  (three 
times) ;  and  the  peculiar  value  which  the  drill  on  a 
limited  number  of  dominant  words  has  for  the  poor 
spellers  (twelve  times),  in  enabling  them  to  catch 
up  with  the  bright  pupils,  as  it  is  possible  to  insist 
on  the  poorest  spellers  mastering  the  limited  num- 
ber of  words  assigned.  Another  commendatory  fea- 
ture was  the  interschool  contests,  which  stimulate 
interest  in  spelling,  and  incite  the  children  to  do  their 
best  (six  times).  There  appears  therefore  to  be  a 
division  of  opinion  among  the  teachers  as  to  the 
propriety  of  the  contests.  The  method  was  com- 
mended furthermore  because  it  emphasizes  sylla- 
bification (ten  times),  and  learning  the  vowel  sounds, 
phonetic  and  diacritical  markings  (six  times),  all 
of  which  makes  for  correct  pronunciation,  distinct 
enunciation  and  better  reading  (seven  times);  it 
requires  the  study  of  the  meaning  of  words  (six 
times),  it  increases  the  child's  vocabulary  (six 
times),  and  ini]u^ovos  his  general  spelling  (four 
times). 

The  respondents  were  asked  to  state  whether  any 
improvement  had  been  observed  in  spelling  in  Cleve- 
land since  the  method  was  introduced,  and  also  to 


IN   RELATION   TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  81 

estimate  the  amount  of  the  increase  as  far  as  that 
could  be  done.  Some  (three)  considered  that  the 
efficiency  had  been  greatly  increased  for  the  words 
studied,  but  that  the  improvement  in  composition 
work  did  not  measure  up  to  expectations,  one  ex- 
plaining this  as  due  to  the  fact  that  the  words  studied 
did  not  supply  the  needed  vocabulary  for  the  work 
required  in  composition.  One  reported  that  the 
gain  was  not  great,  explaining  that  in  her  school 
90%  of  the  pupils  were  recent  immigrants  who  did 
not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  words.  All  the 
others  who  answered  the  question  reported  a  strik- 
ing increase  in  spelling  efficiency,  four  stating  that 
this  applied  to  both  the  oral  and  written  spelling, 
six  that  the  improvement  was  marked  in  all  lines  of 
written  work,  and  several  that  it  was  especially 
marked  with  the  poor  spellers.  One  principal  esti- 
mated the  improvement  at  25%  (for  the  words  as- 
signed in  the  spelling  lesson),  two  at  50%  (one  said 
this  was  true  for  the  papers  in  all  studies),  five  at 
100%,  and  one  at  from  150%  to  250%>  (especially  for 
some  of  the  poor  spellers). 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  majority  opinion 
of  the  principals  and  teachers,  it  is  thus  apparent 
that  the  drill  method  of  teaching  spelling  now  in 
use  in  Cleveland  is  more  satisfactory  than  any  other 
method  used  by  the  respondents  (three,  however, 
considered  that  it  is  not). 


CHAPTER  VI. 
SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS. 

There  are  various  important  conclusions  suggested 
by  our  study  of  spelling,  which  may  be  summarized 
in  the  following  statements : 

1.  Syllabification  is  an  aid  to  spelling,  pronuncia- 
tion and  enunciation.  It  aids  the  child  in  talking 
and  reading  more  distinctly. 

2.  Interschool  contests  revive  interest  in  spelling 
and  vitalize  the  work,  but  they  are  attended  by  vari- 
ous dangers,  and  the  comparisons  are  not  always 
just  measures  of  the  relative  efficiency  of  the  work 
done  in  different  schools,  because  conditions  vary 
widely.  They  do  furnish  legitimate  incentives  and 
effective  stimuli,  but  require  careful  regulation. 

3.  Spelling  efficiency  is  a  function  of  spelling 
method,  perhaps  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  is  a 
function  of  any  other  factor.  Better  spellers  can 
be  produced  by  the  employment  of  a  rational  drill. 
There  is  no  other  specific  that  will  rank  with  a  good 
drill  as  an  effective  remedy  for  poor  spelling. 

4.  Two  of  the  prime  elements  of  a  good  spelling 
drill  are  the  intensive  daily  focalization  of  con- 
sciousness upon  a  limited  number  of  words,  and 
attentive  follow-up  drills  or  reviews,  which  should 
be  continued  until  a  state  of  relative  automatism  has 
ensued. 

82 


IN   RELATION   TO   AGE,   GRADE   AND   SEX.  83 

5.  The  drill  should  not  be  employed  exclusively. 
Incorrect  spelling  should  be  corrected  in  all  the 
written  work,  and  correct  spelling  should  be  made 
a  conscious  ideal  in  all  studies.  Incidental  teaching 
.should  therefore  supplement  the  drill.  It  is  needed 
to  vitalize  the  work,  and  to  develop  the  ability  to  use 
or  apply  what  has  been  learned  in  actual  practice. 

6.  Instruction  in  spelling,  however,  should  be  es- 
sentially a  process  of  teaching  instead  of  unteaching ; 
i.  e.,  the  pupil  should  be  given  as  little  opportunity 
as  possible  to  acquire  incorrect  spellings.  Spelling 
lessons  should  not  be  confined  to  teaching  the  orthog- 
raphy of  words  which  it  has  been  discovered  the 
child  has  misspelled.  The  correct  forms  should  be 
anticipated,  both  in  the  incidental  exercises  and  the 
drills. 

7.  The  words  selected  for  intensive  drill  treat- 
ment should  vary  according  to  the  character  of  the 
school  population.  The  words  for  the  average 
school  are  too  difficult  for  a  ''steamer"  school.  There 
should  be  separate  lists  for  foreign  children,  for  the 
younger  children,  and,  in  the  advanced  classes,  for 
children  preparing  for  specialized  vocations.  More- 
over, it  is  also  imj-tortant  to  emphasize  that — 

8.  The  words  selected  should  be  identical  with  the 
words  in  frequent  use  in  the  school  and  community 
environment.  It  is  wasteful  to  drill  on  words  which 
the  child  will  probably  never  use.  The  object  of 
the  drill,  as  already  explained,  is  not  to  develop  a 
universal  spelling  efficiency.  The  drill  develops 
specific  spelling  ability  primarily.  While  this  re- 
mains true,  it  has  been  shown  that  there  is  a  de- 
cided tendency  to  generalize  when  the  elements  are 
similar  or  identical  in  different  situations,  so  that 


84  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

the  ability  to  spell  lists  of  words  is  available  with 
a  very  slight  loss  in  written  compositions  (Chapter 
IV.).  Yet  no  method  will  develop  an  efficiency  so 
general  that  it  will  embrace  any  word  whatsoever. 
We  must,  therefore,  drill  primarily  upon  words 
which  it  can  be  foreseen  the  child  must  spell  in  his 
out-of-the-school  writing.  Spelling  drills  should 
prepare  directly  for  life. 

9.  A  thorough  drill  is  particularly  valuable  for 
the  poor  spellers  (a  fact  apparently  in  harmony 
with  the  conclusions  of  Bean  and  Charters). 

10.  Teaching  spelling  exclusively  by  a  well-organ- 
ized drill  gives  more  satisfactory  results  than  teach- 
ing it  exclusively  by  the  incidental  method. 

11.  Children  differ  in  ideational  and  memory  type. 
Spelling  should,  therefore,  be  so  taught  that  appeal 
will  be  made  to  a  variety  of  mental  images,  particu- 
larly the  visual  (through  the  presentation  of  visual 
characters),  the  auditory  (through  the  sounding  of 
words),  and  motor  or  auditory-motor  (through  an- 
alytical copying  or  writing,  whispered  vocalization 
or  distinct  pronunciation).  This  conclusion  is  en- 
forced by  several  experiments  (Meumann,  Abbott, 
Kratz),  but  the  pedagogy  of  the  matter  has  not  been 
sufficiently  worked  out.  Meantime  it  is  advisable 
to  make  a  liberal  rather  than  a  limited  appeal  to 
various  types  of  imagery. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1.  Abbott,  Edwina  E.,  On  the  Analysis  of  Memory 

Consciousness  in  Orthography,  Studies  from 
the  Psychological  Laboratory  of  the  Univer- 
sity of'^Illinois,  Vol.  I,  No.  1,  1909,  Baltimore 
(Psychological  Review  Monograph). 

2.  Bailey,   Eliza  E.,   and  Manly,   John   M.,   The 

Baiiy-Manly  Spelling  Books,  2  Vols.,  with 
Teacher's  Manual,  1908,  Boston. 

3.  Bean,  C.  Homer,  Starvation  and  Mental  Devel- 

opment, The  Psychological  Clinic,  May  15, 
1909,  Philadelphia. 

4.  Chancellor,  William  E.,   Spelling,  Journal  of 

Education,  488,  517,  573,  607, 1910,  Boston. 

5.  Charters,  W.  W.,  A  Spelling  Hospital  in  the 

High  School,  The  School  Review,  192,  1910, 

Chicago. 
(6.  Cornman,  Oliver  P.,  Spelling  in  the  Elementary 
V      School,  1902,  Boston. 

7.  Fracker,  George  Cutler.    The  Transference  of 

Training  in  Memory,  The  Psychological  Re- 
view, Monograph  Supplement,  Vol.  IX,  No.  2, 
56-102,  1908,  Baltimore. 

8.  Hicks,    Champion    Spelling   Book,    1909,    New 

York. 

9.  Kratz,  H.  E.,  Studies  and  Observations  in  the 

School  Room,  127,  1907,  Boston. 

86 


86  SPELLING   EFFICIENCY. 

10.  Eice,  J.  M.,  The  Futility  of  the  Spelling  Grind, 

The  Forum,  163f ,  409f ,  1897,  New  York. 

11.  Spelling  in  Milwaukee,  Journal  of  Education, 
153,  270,  383,  410, 1910,  Boston. 

12.  Wallin,  J.  E.  Wallace,  Optical  Illusions  of  Re- 

versible Perspective,  a  Volume  of  Historical 
and  Experimental  Researches,  1905,  Prince- 
ton. 

13.  Wallin,  J.  E.  Wallace,  Has  the  Drill  Become 

Obsolescent.  A  Preliminary  Discussion,  Par- 
ticularly with  Reference  to  Spelling,  The 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  200, 1910, 
Baltimore. 


INDEX 


INDKX 


Abbott,  15,  84  f. 

Accelerated  pupils,  relation  to  spelling  efficiency,  60  f. 

Age,  relation  to  spelling  efficiency,  58  f. ;  over-age,  under-age.  60  f. 

Aim,  identity  of  in  transfer,  74. 

Attention,  relation  to  habituation.  9,  17  f.,  70  f.,  75. 

Automatic  execution,  6  f.,  8,  10,  42. 

Automatization,  of  formal  elements,  6-10,  12 ;  process  of,  8  f.,  17  f. 

Bailey  and  Manly,  22,  85. 

Bean,  10,  84. 

Chancellor.  36,  38,  70,  85. 

Charters,  17,  84  f. 

Cleveland  schools,  spelling  efficiency  in,  19  f.,  35  f..  80  f. ;  in 
author's  experiment,  26  f.,  35  f. ;  spelling  method  in,  17  f.,  21, 
69,  77,  79  f. ;  spelling  tests  in,  19  f.,  26  f. 

Column  spelling,  see  under  spelling. 

Common  elements  in  transfer,  see  identity  of  elements. 

Composition  spelling,  see  under  spelling. 

Conclusions  summarized,  82  f. 

Content,  mastery  of,  11  f. 

Contests,  18,  79  f.,  82. 

Cornman,  14  f.,  36  f.,  43  f.,  50  f.,  85. 

Correlation,  1,  69. 

Drill,  as  developing  specialized  efficiency,  12  f.,  22  f. ;  effectiveness 
of,  as  shown  by  tests,  17,  19  f.,  26  f.,  41 ;  instinctive  basis  of,  3 ; 
meaning  of,  1  f.,  5,  8  f . ;  objections  against,  2-6,  76 ;  relation  to 
forgetfulness,  43,  68  f. ;  to  poor  spellers,  80  f.,  84 ;  to  spon- 
taneity, 71. 

Drill  technique,  elements  of,  8  f.,  17  f.,  22.  82;  defective,  9-11;  in 
relation  to  spelling  efficiency,  17,  19  f.,  22  f.,  41,  43,  66  f.,  82,  84 ; 
see  method. 

Facts,  instrumental,  5-7. 

Forgetfulness,  42 ;  in  relation  to  column  drills,  43,  68  f. ;  to  inci- 
dental method,  42. 

Form,  mastery  of,  6  f.,  8,  11  f. 

Formal  discipline,  doctrine  of,  13,  65 ;  explanation  of,  72  f. ;  see 
transfer. 

Fracker,  66. 

Generali/.ation  of  acquired  capacities,  14,  22,  72  f. ;  uJiiversality  of, 
23  f.,  75,  83  ;  see  transfer. 

Grade,  relation  to  spelling  efficiency,  35  f..  43  f. 
Habit,  disintegration  of,  42;  formation  of,  8  f.,  13.  17;  in  relation 
to  incidental  method,  11 ;  individual.  11 ;  elements  of  law  of, 
9,  12,  17  f . ;  racial,  10 ;  avoidance  of  wrong,  13,  22,  83. 


90  SPELLING    EFFICIENCY. 


Habituation  of  formal  elements,  6-8;  see  drill. 

Ilicks,  85. 

Ideal,  identity  of  in  transfer,  74. 

Ideational  types  in  spelling,  15  f.,  22,  84. 

Identity  of  elements  in  transfer  of  training,  physiological,  72  f. ; 
psychical,  74  f. 

Incidental  method,  1  f. ;  as  involved  in  drill,  12,  71 ;  meaning  of, 
1,  12 :  merits  of,  1  f.,  4,  (39-71,  78 ;  objections  against,  5  f.,  11, 
13,  16,  36,  45,  69,  78 ;  supplementary  to  drill,  69,  71,  83 ;  see 
method. 

Initial  focalization  in  habit  formation,  9,  12,  17. 

Intelligence,  relation  to  spelling  proficiency,  60  f. 

Knovirledge,  see  testing. 

Kratz,  16,  36,  39,  84  f. 

Laggards,  relation  to  spelling  efficiency,  60  f.,  80  f.,  84. 

Learning,  natm'al  method  in  spelling,  4,  79;  see  motivatiou. 

Median,  36. 

Memory,  relation  to  sex,  56 ;  to  transfer,  66. 

Method,  identity  of  in  transfer,  74 ;  see  drill,  incidental. 

Method  in  spelling,  antithesis  between  incidental  and  drill,  71 ; 
incidental  and  drill  supplementary,  69-71 ;  in  relation  to  nor- 
mal child,  45 ;  to  poor  spellers,  60  f.,  80  f.,  84 ;  value  of,  1  f., 
15  f.,  22,  39,  43,  45,  82 ;  see  learning,  spelling. 

Meuraann,  15,  84. 

Motivation,  from  aim,  9 ;  from  contents,  2,  5,  70,  76 ;  from  contests 
(emulation),  18,  79  f.,  88;  from  lack  of  control,  70  f.;  from 
felt  needs,  2,  5,  43 ;  from  intrinsic  needs,  70 ;  with  formal 
materials,  75. 

Natural  method,  see  learning. 

Need,  feeling  of  as  motive,  see  motivation. 

Poor  spellers,  see  age,  method  in  spelling. 

Practice,  8,  42 ;  see  drill,  repetition. 

Recency,  relation  to  spelling  efficiency,  41  f.,  69. 

Reflex  neuroses,  73. 

Repetition,  attentive.  9,  12,  18,  71,  75,  81. 

Restitution  of  function,  73. 

Reviews,  18,  22,  80,  82. 

Rice,   14  f.,  21,  36  f.,  43  f..  50,  63,  86. 

Ruediger,  74. 

Sex,  rehition  to  spelling  efficiency,  49,  60,  63. 

Skill,  meaning  of,  6  f . 

Spelling,  association  and  dissociation  in.  68;  explanation  of  trans- 
fer in,  75  f. ;  investigations  in,  14  f.,  26  f.,  37  f. ;  as  instrumental, 
5f.,  S;  as  social  tool,  6,  8,  71;  incorrect  initial  learning,  13,  22, 
83;  average  time  devoted  to.  21;  see  Cleveland  schools,  con- 
tests, drill,  incidental,  method,  motivation. 
Spelling  oflicicncv  in  various  cities,  15,  19  f.,  21,  35  f.,  80  f. ;  mini- 
mum standard,  14;  variation  in,  15,  20  f.,  40  f.,  43  f.,  47  f.,  57  f., 
62  f. ;  in  relation  to  age,  58  f. ;  to  colunm  spoiling.  2,  14,  21, 
26  f..  55,  65  f.,  69  ;  to  grade,  43  f.,  46  f.,  62  ;  to  intelligence,  60  f. ; 


IN    RELATION    TO    AGE,    GRADE    AND    SEX.  91 

to  method,  15-lS,  22,  43,  45;  to  uonnal,  over  and  under-age 
pupils,  48,  (50  f. ;  to  recency.  41  f.,  60 ;  to  composition  or  sen- 
tence writing,  2,  14,  18,  22,  26  f.,  54,  65  f.,  69,  78,  80,  84 ;  to  sex, 
49  f.,  60.  63 ;  to  personality  of  teacher,  14 ;  to  transfer,  65  f. ; 
to  transfer  gain  and  loss,  65  f. ;  see  Cleveland  schools,  drill, 
incidental. 

Substance,  identity  of  in  transfer,  74. 

Syllabiflcation.  15,  80,  82. 

Teachers'  efficiency,  criterion  of,  64. 

Technique,  motivation  of,  70;  see  drill,  method,  motivation. 

Testing  knowledge,  by  application,  2,  12,  18,  70  f.,  83 ;  by  verbal 
reproduction,  12.  70. 

Tests  of  spelling,  15-21,  26  f..  37  f. 

Test  words  in  author's  test,  31-34. 

Thomdike.  74. 

Time,  devoted  to  spelling,  21. 

Tool  facts,  5-7. 

Transfer  of  acquired  capacities,  doctrine  of,  13  f.,  65 ;  explanation 
of,  72  fif. ;  gain  or  loss  through,  65  f.,  84 ;  identity  of  elements 
in,  24,  62  f. ;  in  memory  experiment,  66  ;  in  spelling  experiment, 
22  fif.,  65  ff.;  legitimate  tests  of,  23  f. ;  universality  of,  23  f., 
75,  83.- 

Values,  content,  2,  5  f.,  70.  76 ;  formal  or  training,  76 ;  instrumental, 
5-7 ;  intrinsic  in  relation  to  formal,  73. 

Vicarious  functioning.  73. 

Variability,  in  relation  to  sex,  57,  60 ;  see  spelling  efficiency. 

Wallin,  8(5. 

Words,  basis  of  choice  for  drills,  75. 

Words,  list  used  in  author's  test,  31-34;  difficulty  of,  39  f.,  44; 
recency  of,  41. 


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